And They Say Chivalry is Dead
by fireblazie
Summary: After a little mishap involving a chess piece and a kunai, Ino has lost her memory, and Shikamaru is to help her regain her memory for a week! This will surely be the longest week of his life...
1. Blunt Objects and the Back of a Head

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Disclaimer: I own not Naruto.

Thanks so much to **b-chan1** -- you inspired me with your story "A Working Knot." This one's for you!

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And They Say Chivalry Is Dead...

Chapter 1: Blunt Objects and the Back of a Head

Shikamaru was playing chess, not for the first time, with Chouji. Chouji was **not** a very good player, Shikamaru had to admit, and he had told his friend this, but Chouji refused to stop playing, claiming that playing with someone as smart as Shikamaru helped him improve.

Shikamaru had just made his last move about ten minutes ago, and Chouji was **still** sitting, hunched over the board, scrutinizing every single piece, every single detail. Shikamaru flopped over on his back and decided to watch the clouds. This would, undoubtedly, take some time.

"Aha!" Chouji declared triumphantly, moving one of his pieces. "Your turn, Shikamaru!"

Oh, all right. Shikamaru reluctantly sat up, glanced at the board, and moved one of his pieces.

"**What**?!" exclaimed Chouji. He proceeded to mutter many, many things under his breath as he turned his head this way and that, searching for some kind of move.

This wasn't new, not at all. It was Sunday, so it was pretty much the only day they didn't have some kind of training exercise to do with Asuma. Sundays, he reflected, were the only days he could sit around and just hang out with Chouji like this, without having **Ino** there, bossing them around.

He sighed. Although he had only become a ninja just so his life would become more "interesting," his life had also become more troublesome.

There were many things in his life that were troublesome, he realized. There was being a ninja. There was the training involved with being a ninja. There was the responsibility involved with being a ninja. There was the three-man group involved with being a ninja. There was the **girl** that was involved in his group which was involved with being a ninja. There was the **girl** who always bossed him around who was in his group which was involved with being a ninja. There was that **girl** who --

Oh. It always came back to her, didn't it?

Sheesh. That was certainly troublesome.

"What are you thinking about, Shikamaru?" Chouji blinked curiously at his best friend, who had been a little too quiet lately. He wasn't really much of a talker as it was, but he was oddly sighing every other minute. Shikamaru wasn't much of a sigher, not unless he had a problem.

"Troublesome things," was the reply.

Shikamaru's mind had always been too complex for Chouji, but that didn't stop him from trying to understand, at least. So Shikamaru was being troubled by troublesome things? That didn't exactly narrow things down. Shikamaru found **everything** troublesome.

"What kind of troublesome things?" Chouji never did comprehend the things that were **troublesome** to Shikamaru. Right now, the most troublesome thing on his mind was trying not to get beaten by Shikamaru yet again in this latest game of chess, which they'd started playing every Sunday. The score? Shikamaru, sixty-three. Chouji, zero.

Shikamaru sighed. "Chouji, d'you ever feel like things are just too troublesome?"

Chouji blinked. It seemed like Shikamaru was in a depressed kind of mood.

"Well, sometimes," he replied truthfully. "See, I was at Ichiraku yesterday, and I couldn't decide if I wanted pork ramen or beef ramen, and I really wanted both, but I could only have one because I didn't have enough money, and so --"

Shikamaru tuned him out. It wasn't anything rude; there was just a limit to how long you could listen to your best friend's troubles with choosing ramen flavors.

" -- well, in the end, I chose beef." Shikamaru noticed, from the corner of his eye, that Chouji's hand lingered curiously near his knight. He smirked inwardly, and decided to let it pass, just this once.

Times like these, he decided, were really quite nice. Nice, and quiet. And plus, he had a good view of the clouds from where he sat. **And**, he didn't have to deal with a certain **girl** --

"Hey, Chouji! Shikamaru!"

That piercing shriek.

That bossy tone.

It was...

...without a doubt...

...**her**.

Okay, Shikamaru did **not** feel like being harassed by Ino right now. He wanted to play chess with Chouji, lie back, relax and look at the clouds, and maybe take a nap later. Oh, and eat something, too. But Ino wasn't part of his daily schedule.

"Crap!" He cursed. "Chouji, hurry. Maybe we can still --"

"Where do you think you're going?"

Too late.

"Nowhere," he grumbled. "At least, not anymore."

"And what's **that** supposed to mean?"

Ugh! Couldn't she leave him alone on his one day of peace?!

It was no secret that Ino sometimes bothered him. Usually, he found a way to deal with it. Whether it meant tuning her out or humoring her and doing whatever it was she asked him to do, he dealt with it. But today -- well, he didn't know exactly why, but he just didn't feel like dealing with her.

With his shrewd mind, he quickly came up with a plan. He sized up the chess pieces, and decided that his king piece was the largest and heaviest of them all. He took out a kunai which had been blunted with use, a piece of string, and knotted the chess piece tightly to the kunai. The extra weight ought to make it travel further, he decided. Squinting his eyes shut, he threw it backwards with as much strength as he could muster. He heard a hollow **thud** and then another, louder sound. "Hey, Ino? Could you get that --" He opened his eyes and saw Chouji's astonished expression.

"What?" he asked. Chouji looked like he had seen a **laughing** Sasuke. Which, he hadn't.

Wordlessly, Chouji pointed.

Shikamaru warily turned around.

The chess piece hadn't landed on the ground.

It had landed on Ino's head.

Oops.

---

There was a decidedly nasty bump on the back of Ino's head. Shikamaru untied the chess piece from the kunai, weighing them both in his hands. They weren't... They weren't **that** heavy...

"Look at the size of that bump!" Chouji whistled. He fingered it gingerly. "Wow. Should we -- I dunno, put something on it? Like ice?"

"I guess," Shikamaru said unsurely. "Do you have any?"

Chouji shook his head.

"Well, I don't have any, either.." Shikamaru frowned. "Do you think you can run down to the store and get some ice?"

"Run?" Chouji wrinkled his nose.

Shikamaru amusedly told him, "When Sleeping Beauty here wakes up, she's going to be pretty darned pissed off. You sure you wanna deal with something as troublesome as that?"

"Ah." Chouji nodded and got up. "Good call."

Shikamaru watched as his friend jogged slowly to the main part of town, munching on some of his chips. They had moved Ino to a more comfortable position against a tree trunk underneath the shade of leaves, and he sat next to her now, wincing at the size of the lump on her head. It was on the **back** of her head, too. And she was leaning against the trunk, applying more pressure to it. That wouldn't be good, he knew. So he shifted her position a little bit so that from the shoulder and below, she was leaning on him, and her head was free.

_She smells good_..

Shikamaru blinked. Girls all smelled the same, another part of him covered up. Like -- Like flowers -- and, and vanilla, and...and..

This train of thought was going somewhere **extremely** dangerous. He shook himself and put every single thought out of his head.

---

When Chouji returned with a pack of ice [after fifteen minutes], Ino **still** hadn't awakened, giving Shikamaru more cause to be worried. She slumbered peacefully, still leaning against him, a fact that Chouji did not let go so easily.

"Will you cut it out," grumbled Shikamaru, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'd shove her off, but -- but she might hit her head more. And I bet I'm in a lot of trouble already as it is."

"Uh-huh," said Chouji, smiling widely all the same.

"Stop it," Shikamaru warned, "or I'm taking your chips from you."

Chouji couldn't resist: "But you know, you two look really cute together."

Shikamaru **gagged**. Yes, he was thirteen now, meaning that he was well past the age of "girls have cooties" and "girls are icky" but him and Ino? No, no, **nooo**, he'd rather do -- do homework, and -- and take all his tests -- and go through all the troublesome things in life.

"Girls are the most troublesome things in the world," Shikamaru announced, "and this girl --" he nudged Ino with his shoulder, "is the most troublesome one ever made."

"So," Chouji said slowly, watching as Shikamaru growled and muttered things under his breath as he rearranged the ice pack so that it would stay on the bump of Ino's head, "you're saying that all girls are troublesome?"

"Yep." Shikamaru nodded, as if that settled everything.

"Then why do you let Ino walk all over you?" Chouji questioned.

"If I try to fight back," explained Shikamaru, "it would be much too troublesome. I figure I'll let her do what she wants, which is to be the boss, and humor her, and soon it'll be all over."

Chouji knew better, but he dropped the subject.

"How long has she been out?" he asked. The atmosphere had suddenly gotten tense. "Do you think she's all right?"

"An hour, I think." Shikamaru frowned. "I dunno. There's no blood. Besides, that kunai's the oldest one I have. It couldn't kill a butterfly. I don't know if it hit anything vital, though."

"That's a large bump," Chouji stated.

"I know," Shikamaru replied.

"Even if she wakes up," Chouji continued, "I don't think that bump's going to go away for a long time."

"...what's your point?"

"My point -- hey, is she coming to?"

Shikamaru looked down. The head of blonde hair was stirring, lifting itself blearily from his shoulder. He scoffed, rubbing at his shoulder which had gotten numb.

"You okay?" he finally asked. He figured he ought to show **some** compassion. He was, after all, the one responsible for this whole mess. How troublesome.

"Ooooh," she groaned in reply, rubbing at the lump. The ice pack had fallen to the grass. Shikamaru picked it up.

"Seriously," he said, "are you okay?"

"I -- I think so," she answered slowly, still blinking herself awake. "What **happened**?"

"Well," Shikamaru said, hoping that she wouldn't react **too** violently, "I kind of hit you. With my kunai. And my king," he added as an afterthought.

"Your king?" Finally, she turned around to face him, and Shikamaru almost fell back. This wasn't Ino. This **wasn't** Ino, at least, not the Ino that he personally knew. He'd heard that she'd had a nicer personality with some of the other people, but the only personality he saw was her bossy one. Her eyes were glazed and confused, and she wasn't scowling or glaring --

In fact, she looked almost nice.

"....yeah," he answered after a long stretch of silence.

"Wait!" She said suddenly, her eyes fully conscious. She took in her surroundings. She took in Chouji, who smiled nervously to the side. She took in Shikamaru, who watched her in bewilderment.

"Who **are** you people?!"

---

"Amnesia, I think," Shikamaru stated bluntly. "Hopefully it's only temporary."

"Yeah..." Chouji peered over at the girl who was still sitting under the tree, staring at the sky. "I think you should take her home."

"Are you **kidding**?!" Shikamaru grabbed his friend's scarf. "I'm not going there by myself!"

Chouji grinned sheepishly. "I have to do some extra chores," he told him. "And -- well, it **was** more or less your fault."

"I know that!" hissed Shikamaru. "But -- okay, I think, the biggest problem we have right now, is getting her memory back. Can't you help me, just for an hour? Maybe we'll get her memory back by then. Ugh, this is too troublesome."

"You think getting her memory back will be troublesome?" Chouji looked thoroughly amused. "I think you have an even bigger problem than **that**."

"Oh? What's that?"

Chouji's grin fell, and he shook his head, indicating for Shikamaru to come closer.

"Ino's **dad**," he whispered.

Shikamaru, quite literally, hit the floor. Although, in this case, it wasn't the floor -- it was the grass. He'd only met Ino's dad once, but...well, the experience was quite unforgettable.

Oh, boy. Could this day get any more troublesome?

--** tsuzuku: to be continued** --

Hey, this story is turning out nicely, I think! At any rate, **I'm** pleased.


	2. Her Overprotective Father

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Disclaimer: I own not Naruto.

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And They Say Chivalry is Dead

Chapter 2: The Overprotective Father

Shikamaru spent about an hour in the park, desperately struggling to get Ino's memory back. Yes, maybe he was exceedingly smart for his age, yes, maybe he did have an IQ over 200 -- he still did **not** have the talents to regain one's memory.

"Flowers!" He thrust a handful of dandelions in her face. "You love flowers! Don't you remember?!"

She sneezed.

This was really too troublesome.

"I'm up to my neck in it here," he mumbled, stalking off, a bewildered Ino having no choice but to follow him. "All I wanted was my Sunday off. That's all. I wasn't asking for a miracle. I wasn't asking for a million dollars. I wasn't asking to become a -- a -- a Chuunin. I just wanted a nice, relaxing Sunday. This is **not** a nice, relaxing, Sunday."

"But I still don't understand," Ino said, puzzled. "Who am I? Where am I? And who are you?"

And this Ino was -- was confused, gentle, and -- and downright **nice**! It wasn't the regular old bossy Ino he was used to, and frankly, it was creeping him out.

"Your name is -- oh, are you **sure** you can't remember **anything**?!" Shikamaru whirled around, practically **begging** with his eyes for her to remember something, anything. Even the fact that she couldn't stand him. Even the fact that she was head-over-heels in love with that Uchiha boy, whom he frankly found annoying. He also found her crush on him annoying, but that was another story.

"I don't remember anything," she said honestly. "I'm -- I'm sorry."

Okay, Ino apologizing to him? He dearly, dearly wished for the old Ino, the one who smacked him over the head for being too lazy, the one who always yelled at him and made him do things that were too darn troublesome.

"Don't apologize," he told her. "You **hate** me. You don't apologize to me, not for anything."

"I hate you?" she questioned him.

Shikamaru nodded.

"Why?"

Hey, he'd asked himself the question a million times before, and not even his intellect could answer it. So he settled for shrugging. "I don't know. You just boss me around a lot."

"That doesn't mean I hate you.." She said, blinking. "What's your name, anyway? And what's mine?"

Shikamaru sighed.

"Your name is Yamanaka Ino," he finally replied. "Your family owns a flower shop. You have a best friend, or -- you **were** best friends, with a girl named Haruno Sakura."

" 'Were'?" she asked.

"Yeah. Were." Shikamaru felt uncomfortable -- he didn't really know the whole story himself. "I think it had something to do with Uchiha."

"Uchiha?"

Oh, boy, here came the good part. "Uchiha Sasuke," he explained, "this kind of grumpy, anti-social guy. All the girls love him. So do you."

"I do?"

"...yeah."

The silence was new to him. Previously, whenever he was with Ino, she would be barking orders at him, or talking about something or other, and he would pray for silence. But, now that he had the silence, he didn't know exactly **what** to do with it. He sighed.

"What's your name?" she asked him curiously.

He tried to avoid her eyes, staring up at the clouds. "Nara Shikamaru."

"Shikamaru," she said softly. "Your name sounds really familiar."

He quirked an eyebrow. Did she remember?

She closed her eyes, smiling to herself. "Somehow...when I hear your name, I feel warm. Does that mean that you're my friend?"

He was taken aback, to say the least. Friend? Was that how she treated friends? Bossing them around? Yelling at them, for every little thing?

"You hate me," he said, finally. "I don't think that means we're friends."

"I don't remember anything," she told him, a little sadly. "So I can't say for sure. But I'm sorry for whatever I did to make you think I hate you. You're really nice."

Okay, that was **definitely** more than he could handle.

"You know what? I'm going to bring you home." There, that was good. He took off for the Yamanakas' house, Ino following close behind him.

---

Shikamaru remembered, much too late, about Chouji's warning. He had knocked on Ino's front door and was waiting for someone to answer. When Ino's father came, looking down on him, he gulped.

Oh. Right.

"Yamanaka-san," he said, biting his lip. "I brought your daughter home."

Troublesome. Much too troublesome.

"Ino?" He looked at the pony-tailed girl who was peering confusedly at the house.

"Yeah," replied Shikamaru, scratching his head. "But, see, something kinda happened --"

"Shikamaru," Ino called, tapping the boy pleasantly on the shoulder, "is this my house?"

"Er, yeah --" Shikamaru warily glanced up to see Ino's father glaring down at him.

"Shikamaru," he said, "why don't you come in?"

"Uh, no thanks," Shikamaru replied hastily, "I think I have to go -- my dad, he wanted --"

His father appeared at the door, standing tall next to Ino's father. "Don't lie your way out of this, son."

Shikamaru cursed the fact that his father and Ino's father were such close friends.

Inoshi smiled, showing a lot of his pearly white teeth. "Why don't you come in, Shikamaru?"

---

Shikato winced. "Ooh. Out of all the things you could have possibly gotten into --"

"I know, okay?" Shikamaru did **not** feel like sitting here and listening to yet another lecture. He'd given them the basic story -- he'd **accidentally** -- he'd emphasized that word, very carefully -- hit Ino on the head with the blunt end of his kunai and his king. Then, she'd gotten knocked out. They had given her some ice, and then she'd woken up without a single clue as to who she was.

"Do you feel okay?" Inoshi bent down to his daughter. "Does your head hurt? Let me know, honey, if that boy has done anything to you, Daddy will kill him."

Shikamaru warily crept away.

"Don't you dare move, boy."

He froze.

"He's right, Shikamaru." It was Shikato who spoke. "You are, more or less, at fault here."

"But it was an **accident**," insisted Shikamaru. What happened to the days when an accident occured, you simply said sorry, were forgiven, and the whole thing was forgotten?!

"Haven't you heard of repercussions?" Shikato said lazily, taking a sip of sake.

"It was an **accident**."

"Even so," his father stated, "there are still consequences. What about if that kunai hadn't been so blunt, huh? And you'd stabbed her in the heart and killed her? That was an **accident** too, wasn't it?"

God, Shikamaru hated it whenever his father was the one to lecture him. Maybe it was because they were so similar and he knew **exactly** what to say to really make sure it got him. And he never yelled. He almost wished his mother was the one scolding him.

"Don't take it to heart." His father mussed up his hair. "I'm just saying that whatever Inoshi here manages to dish out on you you'll just have to take it like a man."

"...." Shikamaru had already known that there would be some consequences, but he also knew that Ino had gotten a lot of her temper from her father.

"She can't remember anything." Shikamaru turned at the sound of Inoshi's exasperated voice. "I've asked her everything. Her name. Her address. Her phone number. Her first meeting with Uchiha. Nothing."

Shikato whistled. "Well, I've heard about these things. Usually once she sees something that's really important to her or meant something to her, it'll jog her memory and, bam, she'll remember everything. Or if you hit her again in the head with the same amount of pressure in the same spot, it might do the same thing."

"I'll take the former, thanks," Inoshi said dryly.

Shikamaru watched Ino, who was surveying the room she was in. She furrowed her brow, more than once, picking up an object off the table to examine it.

Yeah. Real troublesome, all right.

"Well, Shikamaru.." Inoshi sighed heavily. "I know that this was an **accident** --"

Shikamaru grumbled under his breath.

"-- but, like your father said, there will be some consequences."

The grumbling grew louder.

Which Inoshi pointedly ignored. "You will help my daughter regain her memory. For a week. Just go around the city with her, try to help her jog her memory."

"A week?" The words burst unexpectedly out of Shikamaru. The prospect of spending a week with a **girl** which sounded very **troublesome** was doubled so by the fact that it was **Ino**. But, she **was** a little nicer, now that she had amnesia. What he was really afraid of, though, was how she would react when she found out that he had caused her to lose her memory. That didn't sound very inviting.

"A week," Inoshi repeated firmly. "Or, I'm sure I can find **something** else that will be **much** more **pleasant** for **me**."

"No, that's fine," Shikamaru mumbled. "It's...fine."

He caught Ino's eye from across the room. She smiled.

He gulped.

Shikato laughed merrily, clapping a hand forcefully on his son's shoulder. "Come on. We should get home. You'll have to get up bright and early tomorrow to show Ino around the city."

"Tomorrow?" Shikamaru was beginning to regret everything.

"Tomorrow!" repeated his father. He caught a glimpse of Inoshi's pearly white teeth again, and decided not to press the matter any further.

"Is it okay?" Ino blinked prettily. "I'm not troubling you or anything?"

Shikamaru was about to launch into a long and very detailed tirade of **yes**, this was very troublesome, and I'm going to tell you exactly **why** it's very troublesome when he suddenly saw a flash of white, **sharp** teeth, his father's Look, and Ino's bright, bright smile.

Damn it all.

"I really don't mind," he found himself amending hastily, teeth gritted unusually tightly. "I'd be...happy...to help."

"Thank you!" Ino said. Shikamaru blinked; Ino had only thanked him twice in his entire lifetime.

"You're...welcome," he finally said after a long stretch of silence. She kept on smiling at him, **not** one of her fake smiles that she wore whenever she came within fifty miles of Uchiha Sasuke. Eventually, he found himself smiling back, even if it was just a small one.

---

That night, Shikamaru quickly changed into his nightclothes and sat down at the foot of his bed. He thought of that afternoon -- how a kunai and a chess piece had suddenly changed everything.

He didn't want to think of Ino's reaction once she got her memory back and found out that **he** had been the one who'd made her lose her memory.

**If** she ever got her memory back.

Now that he thought about it, Inoshi and his father had actually taken the news quite calmly. There hadn't been any blood spilled, so he thought he'd consider himself lucky.

And -- how exactly was he to go about getting Ino's memory back? He didn't know her very well; how was he to suddenly help her regain her memory in a week?! It sounded ridiculous. He'd seen the same thing occur, except, of course, that it was on some farfetched television show, or some cheesy romance story. Not in real life.

She was so frustratingly **nice** that it made him feel **guilty** for the whole incident in the first place. But -- he had to admit that he **did** like the nice Ino. It took a little getting used to, but now, he figured he could learn to live with it.

And.. she **had** said that his name sounded vaguely familiar to her.

And that it made her feel warm, whatever that meant.

None of that had happened when she'd heard Sasuke's name.

His lips curved gently upwards as he fell back on the pillows.

--** tsuzuku: to be continued** --

Thanks for the reviews -- I haven't managed to read all of them yet, but thanks so much!


	3. Her Best Friend

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Disclaimer: I own not Naruto.

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And They Say Chivalry is Dead

Chapter 3: Her Best Friend

When Shikamaru opened his eyes that morning, there was an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was the sort of feeling that made him want to go back to sleep. Which, of course, he did.

Not for long, however.

"Wake up!" Shikato boomed, thrusting open his son's door in an extremely loud fashion. Shikamaru groaned inwardly, but did his best to pretend that he was still asleep. It didn't fool his father.

"Oi," he muttered, in a much softer voice, "just wake up, okay? If you can get out early enough before your mother wakes up, you can escape without a lecture."

Ooh. He brought up a good point. Now, Shikamaru was at an impasse: Relish the thought of sleep for an extra fifteen minutes, or wake up **now** and leave without his ear drums bursting? Was this how the traveler felt as he stared impassively down at the forked road?

Ohhhhh... Shikato hadn't stopped shaking him awake since he'd entered the room. Shikamaru did his best to ignore this, which he was **very** good at. Finally, his father desisted, with a heavy sigh.

"Your choice," he said frankly. "But either way you'll have to get up anyway."

Shikamaru groaned.

His father left the room.

Minutes later, Shikamaru rolled out of bed and hastily made his bed, draping the sheets awkwardly around the mattress. Without a second glance, he grabbed his tie and put his hair up without the use of a mirror. He dressed himself in his usual clothes and walked slowly down the stairs. There was a bowl of cold cereal on the table, and his father was calmly sipping his tea.

"You woke up anyway?"

"...." Shikamaru stuck spoonful after spoonful of cereal in his mouth.

Shikato sat back, idly stirring his tea, blowing a little bit at every now and then. He watched his son, who was almost like an identical copy of him.

"This is too troublesome," Shikamaru said, tilting the bowl up so that he could finish the remnants of the milk.

"I know," Shikato agreed. It **was** rather troublesome, this predicament his dear son had gotten himself into.

Shikamaru pulled a face. "I didn't ask for this."

Shikato nodded. "Nobody did."

Shikamaru stood up, placing his empty bowl into the sink. He grabbed his glass from the kitchen cabinet and poured himself a glass of orange juice.

"Why do these things always happen to me?" he asked no one in particular.

"I guess irony's taken a liking to you." His father was joking, but Shikamaru was not in the mood for jokes. He raised his eyebrows.

"Look on the bright side," Shikato pointed out, "at least she's being nice to you. And acknowledging you. You always wanted that, didn't you?"

Shikamaru stared at his orange juice. "I never told you that."

Shikato laughed.

Shikamaru glared, irritated.

"I'm just saying," his father told him lightheartedly, "this is an opportunity. It'd be a waste if you didn't use it."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, taking a sip of his orange juice.

An opportunity?

To do what?

He made a sour face, glowering heatedly at the glass of juice.

"I hate pulp."

---

It was sometime around eight thirty, the sun peeking out from behind the mountain on which was engraved the faces of their former Hokages. Shikamaru trudged along under the shade of the dark trees, not at all happy with himself.

He'd tried to think of various ways to retrieve her memory. His dad had said something about seeing something familiar and then triggering the rest of her memory. He figured he ought to start small -- like maybe just taking her to her flower shop, where she often worked. And then taking her around the village. Ichiraku, maybe. And if that still didn't work, then he'd bring in the heavy artillery: **People**. There was no way she couldn't remember that Haruno girl, and if even that failed, then that Uchiha boy would definitely do the job.

He came to an abrupt stop in front of the Yamanakas' house. It was considerably larger than the small house he lived in with his mother and father, but then again, the Yamanakas had the flower shop to rely on for the extra money. Stalling for time, he let his eyes wander around the expanse of land. There was a well-landscaped front yard, with concrete steps down the middle, leading to the front door. There was an assortment of plants in the yard -- roses, hydrangea, bushes, small trees. The grass was neatly trimmed, and the sprinklers were on. He sighed. He would have to make a run for it to avoid getting drenched. The steps were already soaked. He went on to survey the front door -- made of some kind of rich, dark wood. The house was a single-story one, and the flower house, he knew, was just across the street, behind him.

"Are you going to come in, boy? Or are you just going to stand around?"

Shikamaru didn't have to look up to know that Inoshi had opened the front door and was eyeing him with an unpleasant look on his face. The man was extremely overprotective of his daughter. Without a single word, he slowly went up the steps until he was face-to-face with Yamanaka Inoshi. He was extremely tall, Shikamaru realized. Taller than his father, perhaps?

"You're here," Inoshi said approvingly.

"Yessir," Shikamaru replied blandly. What was he to say to that?

"Shikamaru?" There was a smaller figure behind Inoshi, undoubtedly Ino. She was wearing something different, instead of the purple shirt and skirt and the bandages that bound her stomach and thighs. Instead, she was wearing jeans, loose jeans, and a long-sleeved shirt. Her hair was down today. Shikamaru almost gaped -- he had never seen Ino in anything other than the purple outfit with her hair tied up.

"...yeah," he managed after awhile. She looked so **different**.

"Where are you planning to take her?" Oh, right. Inoshi was there.

"The flower shop first." Shikamaru pointed to the small shop.

Inoshi nodded, taking out the keys from his pocket. "Okay. Let's go."

Shikamaru flinched. "You're coming with us?"

"Only to the flower shop." Shikamaru had difficulty hiding his relief. "It's locked, you know, you can't get in without me."

The trio crossed the street. Inoshi unlocked the flower shop and flicked the lights on. Shikamaru led Ino around.

"You work here all the time," he told her. "You love flowers. You're always going on about them. Come on. Remember something. Anything."

Ino looked almost apologetic. "No..."

Shikamaru sighed. Well, it wasn't like he thought it was going to be that easy.

Heaving a long, loud sigh, Shikamaru gestured for Ino to follow him. He spent the better part of an hour taking her around the shop, pointing at the flowers, and at the counter, talking about how she always worked here and how she always sold so many flowers. It didn't help too much.

"You don't remember a single thing, do you?"

Ino shook her head.

Shikamaru found himself sighing again.

"Better go someplace else," Inoshi suggested.

Shikamaru looked up briefly at the older man, and then back at Ino -- taking a few wisteria blossoms and sniffing at them. A smile crept on her face as she put it back. She caught his eye, waved, and smiled.

"Yeah," he said dimly, "we should."

---

Now that he thought about it, Shikamaru figured he should have known better.

Okay, now, think about this: Nara Shikamaru does **not** like attracting too much attention. Therefore, he did not want the news of Ino losing her memory to get out, for then many people would undoubtedly get curious and flock to them and just make his job a heck of a lot harder.

He should have known better than to take her to Ichiraku.

But then again, they had spent many afternoons there, together with Chouji, just eating and slurping at the hot, soothing ramen, after long, arduous hours of training. It was worth a shot.

As soon as he saw the bright orange jacket under the flaps of the noodle stand, Shikamaru flinched.

"What's wrong, Shikamaru?" Ino asked curiously. And loudly, too. She hadn't lost **that** part of her personality.

"Nothing," he mumbled. He planned to lead her out of there as quickly and quietly as he could. "C'mon, let's go."

"Shikamaru?" Just as he was about to make his big escape, Naruto stuck his head under the flap. "Hey, it's you! And Ino, too!"

"Really?" There was another voice, a female one. Over to Naruto's left, was the back of someone clothed in red. "Ino-pig is outside?"

"Hn," came another voice -- wearing black. Shikamaru sighed. Of all the days...

"Do I know them?" Ino sounded awfully pleasant. Shikamaru could count on one hand the number of times Ino had actually been **pleasant** to him. He sighed, deliberately stalling for time. Ino decided to lift up the flap and walk into the noodle stand, and Shikamaru had no choice but to follow.

"Hey, Ino-pig," Sakura greeted her through a mouthful of ramen. She glanced meaningfully at Sasuke, sitting beside her, as if to say, _Hah! I'm sitting next to him!_

Which Ino, of course, didn't understand. She blinked twice, and then turned back to Shikamaru.

"Do I know them?" she repeated.

Shikamaru sighed again.

Sakura dropped her chopsticks. Naruto was too busy eating his ramen to even notice the things going around him, and Sasuke -- well, if he noticed anything, he didn't care. Maybe a part of Sakura still recognized Ino as her best friend, and she watched the blonde girl silently. Something was **definitely** up -- Ino hadn't made any comments about her large forehead or gone and glomped Sasuke. And she had asked, "Do I know them?"

If there was one thing Sakura could rely on, it was her brains.

"Shikamaru," she said curtly, her bowl of ramen forgotten, "may I talk to you? In private?"

The dark-haired boy sighed, but nodded. To Ino, he said offhandedly, "We'll only be a couple of minutes. You can order some ramen if you like."

Sakura sat down at a booth and eyed him with piercing green eyes. Shikamaru grew a little uncomfortable. It was a lot like Ino's piercing stare, except she had blue eyes...

"So," he finally broke the heavy silence, "what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Don't play dumb," snapped Sakura. "What happened to her?"

Shikamaru sighed. Sakura was an awful lot like the old Ino. "She lost her memory."

This was Haruno Sakura, and Shikamaru had seen Naruto get on the bad end of her temper, so Shikamaru had expected maybe a loud shriek or a sharp punch to the head or -- or **something**. But she just sat there, taking this all calmly. A little **too** calmly, he thought.

"How?"

Shikamaru scratched at the back of his head. "I hit her with the blunt end of my kunai and my king. A chess piece," he added upon seeing the confused look on the pink-haired girl's face.

"....why?"

Shikamaru frowned. "I wanted to just throw it somewhere in her direction, ask her to get it for us, and while she was doing that, escape."

"Escape?" Now Sakura frowned. "But why?"

Shikamaru twitched. "Well, in case you haven't noticed, we don't really get along."

"You don't?"

"She bosses me around. I thought maybe she'd stop after I reached Chuunin, but, nah. Just kept on screaming at me and treating me like dirt."

A million snappy comebacks floated through Sakura's head, but she managed to stop herself from saying any of them, particularly since Shikamaru seemed a little preoccupied right now. "You could have asked her to stop," she told him.

Shikamaru snorted. "And then have to deal with her temper? And then some long-winded rant about Uchiha?"

Sakura furrowed her brow. "What does Sasuke-kun have to do with this?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Knowing Ino, she'd find **some** way to bring him into the conversation."

Sakura was silent. "So now you're going around trying to get her memory back?"

"Yeah." Shikamaru was a little surprised that she'd figured that out. "How'd you know?"

Sakura snorted. "You probably had to deal with her dad, right?"

Oh, yeah. Shikamaru barely managed a nod. Then something occured to him: "Why do you care? Aren't you two, I dunno, enemies?"

"Me and Ino?" Shikamaru noticed she'd dropped the "pig" suffix. "Ooh, I guess, maybe a little. Not really so much after the Chuunin exam, though. Most of it's just for show."

"Hm," Shikamaru acknowledged her statement.

Sakura twirled with a strand of her pink hair, barely reaching her shoulders. "You know," she said at last, "she told me she had someone else she liked."

Something twitched inside Shikamaru. "Really?"

"Uh-huh." Inner Sakura delighted in the look on Shikamaru's face. "Have any idea who?"

Something passed through his face, but Sakura wasn't able to tell exactly what. "Why would I care?" he scoffed. "Girls like Ino are too troublesome to bother figuring out."

Sakura sighed.

"Listen. I'll 'take care' of your best friend if that's what you're saying. And I'll do my best to get her memory back. No promises, though."

"Uh-huh," Sakura repeated. Shikamaru had gotten up and tapped Ino on the shoulder. She had been talking with Naruto about something, and hadn't paid any attention to Sasuke at all. Sakura fought the urge to laugh as Ino followed Shikamaru without complaint.

She stood up as well and sat back down on her seat. She was pretty sure her ramen was already cold. She took a small sip and frowned. She hated cold ramen.

"What was that about?" Naruto asked loudly. "Ino was clueless. Didn't even look at Sasuke over there."

Sakura laughed. "Why, Sasuke-kun, did you miss the attention?"

Sasuke snorted. "Right."

Sakura sobered up instantly. "She lost her memory," she explained, "so Ino's dad made Shikamaru go around trying to get Ino's memory back."

"Lost her memory?" Sasuke wasn't sure whether to look disgusted or weirded out.

Sakura shrugged. "These things happen."

"Well, Shikamaru's smart. He'll get it back, no problem. Didn't Kakashi-sensei say that Asuma-sensei said that Shikamaru had an IQ of 200 or something?" Naruto contributed.

Sakura thought back to the conversation she'd had with the so-called genius. Come to think of it, hadn't that been the first real conversation she'd really had with him?

_"Why would I care? Girls like Ino are too troublesome to bother figuring out."_

"Nah," she scoffed, stirring her cold ramen, "he's not as smart as everybody says."

--** tsuzuku: to be continued** --

Heehee, I wanted to add Sakura in there. Ino needs a best friend. I mean, imagine how she's to deal with Shikamaru for a whole **week**?


	4. Their Teacher

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Disclaimer: I own not Naruto.

****

And They Say Chivalry is Dead

Chapter 4: Their Teacher

They were walking down the streets, Shikamaru a little bit ahead, when Ino spoke up.

"Who were those people we met?" she asked him.

"Huh?" Shikamaru was a little bit out of it -- especially after Sakura's talk, which had been surprisingly exhausting. The big money question on his mind was, who **was** this other person Ino liked? Furthermore, was there **even** such a person in existence? He found himself wishing that he hadn't stopped to talk to her.

"Those people we met," she repeated. "And..." she hesitated, "that pink-haired girl."

Shikamaru turned his attention to the girl behind him. "Sakura?"

Ino nodded. "I think... she looks very familiar."

Shikamaru could have slapped himself. But he retained what dignity he had left and chose not to. Of course, of course, they had been good friends, despite their rivalry for that Uchiha guy. Sakura could easily tell Ino about their childhood and their rivalry and whatever else they had going on between them -- but did he really want to go back there? What else would Sakura find to talk about?

"Do you remember anything about her?" he asked her, turning away and continuing to walk.

"Um," Ino paused, following him, but frowning, "I kind of get this feeling like we're friends. Were we?"

What could Shikamaru say? What did he want to say? Was it really his place to say anything at all? He didn't know the details of Ino and Sakura's unusual friendship.

But Sakura wouldn't have sat him down like that and given him a good talking to if they weren't friends, right?

"Yeah, I guess," he replied uncertainly. "You guys were always fighting. It was kinda hard to tell if you were friends or not."

"Fighting?" Ino sighed. "I sound like... I dunno, a bitch."

Shikamaru's eyes bulged out of their sockets. Not that the thought hadn't occured to him before, but to hear it come out of Ino's mouth -- well, he hadn't expected that in a million years.

Sometimes, Ino had actually said the same thing herself: _I'm such a bitch_. And Shikamaru would be smart enough and tactful enough to say nothing and to just let Ino rant on about whatever was on her case. That was Ino, like a car that ran on batteries, and if you just let her do whatever she pleased, she'd eventually run out of steam and just fall back.

"You kinda are," he admitted. This Ino was different. Or maybe it was the Ino hidden underneath all the different layers that made up Yamanaka Ino. The real Ino, perhaps?

She rolled her eyes at him. "That's nice of you to say."

Shikamaru shrugged.

"Where are we going now?" she asked.

"I guess we could go to the Academy," Shikamaru said, more to himself than to Ino. "We spent a lot of time there. Maybe you'll remember Iruka-sensei. He was our teacher. And then later on we have training with Asuma, who's our teacher now."

"Teacher? Ninja teacher?"

Shikamaru nodded.

"Was I a ninja?"

"Yeah. Best kunoichi in our class, I think. I wouldn't know. I was always asleep."

"Really?" Ino came closer, eyes starry. "Was I really that good?"

Ooh-kay. Ino was growing much too close for his comfort. Shikamaru instinctively backed away.

"Yeah," he gulped, "you were pretty good."

She smiled suddenly. "Well, I guess if you say so, then I must have been pretty good!"

Oh, boy. Quickened pulse. Heat in cheeks. Jelly in knees.

"Let's go," Shikamaru said abruptly, walking much faster than he normally did. He cursed inwardly, but for some reason, couldn't get Ino's smiling face out of his mind.

---

"Geez. I haven't been here in a long time." His voice was weary.

Ino walked beside him now, matching him stride for stride. She took in her surroundings, pausing every now and then to look inside a window or to ask him a question. He answered them quickly, unable to look into her eyes.

"This is it," he said. It was a Monday afternoon, and it had only been a half-day for the other kids. Peering in through the window, Shikamaru saw Iruka grading papers. He knocked, twice.

Iruka opened the door, looking a little surprised. Shikamaru couldn't really blame him.

"Er, hi," he said.

"Oh." Iruka blinked. "You can come on in.." He opened the door a little bit wider so that they had room to come in. There was a heavy, uncomfortable silence, but Shikamaru supposed that there were some things about Ino that hadn't changed.

"Are you Iruka-sensei?" she asked politely.

Iruka did a double-take. Then he looked from Shikamaru, to Ino, and back to Shikamaru. Those damned kids, they must have been playing tricks on him..

"Ino," Shikamaru explained delicately, "has lost her memory."

There were many things that Iruka yearned to say, but the teacher part of him caught his patience before it broke and he settled for, "Oh."

Shikamaru suddenly remembered that he had never really gotten along very well with Iruka. He was always asleep half the time, could you really blame him? He grew uncomfortable.

"Um. How?"

Shikamaru remembered that Iruka was talking to him. "I, uh, hit her. Accidentally."

Iruka looked like he would want to ask more, but he **was** a teacher, therefore he had mastered a little thing called tact, and he kept his mouth shut.

"Shikamaru's trying to help me get my memory back," Ino put in. Maybe she saw that Shikamaru looked like he would love to jump off an extremely high cliff, who knew?

Iruka glanced disbelievingly at Shikamaru. Shikamaru felt a little prickle of annoyance.

"How much luck have you had?"

"Not much," Ino admitted. "But we're going to...train, I think. Later."

Iruka nodded. What else could he really do?

"I was hoping," Shikamaru cut in, "that maybe she would remember you. Or the school. Something."

Iruka wrinkled his brow, and he started to talk about various things -- things they had learned in the Academy, among other things. Shikamaru eventually tuned them out, staring at the clouds.

---

There were many times Shikamaru wished he was a cloud. This was definitely one of them. They had just left the Academy and were now on their way to their little training spot, where they had planned to meet Asuma and Chouji at ten.

Being a cloud would be so much easier, and so much less troublesome. For example, he could simply be floating in the air, not worrying about any other things. Except, maybe bumping into **other** clouds. And raining. Was it easy to rain? Probably. He just had to...let it all out.

"You're a Chuunin, right?" Ino said suddenly.

"Yeah." Shikamaru sighed, and then something suddenly occured to him. "You -- how did you know that word?" Ino had known absolutely nothing about herself before.

Ino drew her eyebrows together, "I'm not sure."

Shikamaru almost smiled -- almost. Obviously, this meant that they were all on their way to getting this whole thing over with. Which was good, definitely good.

They reached the training spot, and Chouji was already there, as was Asuma. They were in a heated argument over something -- Asuma was holding a bag of chips, and Chouji kept on reaching out for them, but Asuma would "magically" make them disappear.

Abruptly, Shikamaru realized that he would have to tell Asuma about their little situation. He figured the guy ought to understand...hopefully. Asuma was pretty laid-back. And it wouldn't be as weird as his little meeting earlier with Iruka-sensei, he hoped.

"What's his name?" Ino asked quietly.

"Asuma," replied Shikamaru. "Erm, sensei." He rarely bothered to add the _-sensei_ suffix, but Ino usually did, right?

She nodded, and then, as if she had just learned something, tugged on his shoulder urgently. Shikamaru stiffened at the sudden contact. "What?" he asked.

"We're training, right?"

Shikamaru failed to realize what was wrong. "Yeah. So?"

"I don't remember anything!" She looked worried. "How to be a shinobi. What to do. How am I supposed to do this?"

For a brief moment, he wondered if he was losing it. How had he not seen this coming? He ought to take an IQ test sometime soon, he was sure that it would not be that 200 Asuma had told them.

"We'll just tell Asuma," Shikamaru answered placidly.

Ino nodded, but in a true Ino fashion, still looked concerned. Shikamaru tried not to look at her, because there was just something about the worried look on her face that got to him, and stepped, loudly and purposefully, on a twig. Asuma looked up and raised his hand in a wave.

"Oh! Shikamaru!" Chouji stood up. "And.." Here he paused. "Ino."

Asuma was a pretty smart guy. Sure, probably not as smart as Shikamaru, but he still had a pretty good brain. First off, Shikamaru did not show up with Ino very often. He showed up with Chouji. Second of all, what in the hell was Ino wearing? Not that it didn't look good on her or anything, but Ino never wore jeans. And why was her hair down? It always got in the way of training, but it was a little shorter now, especially after that fight with Sakura. Something was out of place.

"Hey, you two." He was smiling pleasantly.

"Hey." Shikamaru tried not to sigh. He failed.

Ino was surveying her surroundings. She looked up at the dark leaves of the trees, the dark wood of the tree trunks. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that their other teammate, the other boy she had met before, named.. Chouji, that was it, was eating some chips. He must have gotten them back from his teacher. Her stomach growled.

"Umm, Chouji, was it?" She skipped over to where he was. "Could I have some of those chips?"

That was it. Asuma nearly fell over.

"So, Shikamaru." He quickly regained his composure. "You planning on telling me what happened?"

Shikamaru raised his hands in defeat.

---

Asuma wasn't sure exactly **what** to say. What could he say, for that matter?

"...how..." He stopped. No, that wasn't it. "...why.." No, that wasn't it either. "...maybe.." No, no, not at all. "Look, Shikamaru.." No, no. All wrong.

"You planning on giving me a lecture?" Shikamaru asked lazily.

Asuma looked a little surprised. "No. What could I say?"

Shikamaru imagined some of the things his mother would say. "Never mind." He shook his head.

"How'd she react with that Sasuke kid?" Ohh, so apparently they were both thinking on the same level. Shikamaru thought back to their meeting at Ichiraku, but he had been too preoccupied with Sakura, who was extremely intimidating, even if she didn't look it. After all, someone who had pink hair couldn't cause too much damage.

"Nothing, I don't think." Shikamaru frowned. "I took her to Ichiraku, and we met with Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura gave me one of her 'talks' so I didn't notice her with Sasuke. She didn't say anything about him."

"Sakura gave you a talk?" Asuma thought back. He spent lots of time with Kakashi, and the silver-haired man had mentioned that his little pink-haired girl had the strangest way with words. Then again, hadn't they been best friends or something? He didn't know the whole story, and he never had a reason to pry.

"Yeah." Shikamaru unwillingly remembered what she had said. _You know, she told me she had someone else she liked_. "God, why'd she have to go say that?" He momentarily forgot that Asuma was there. "How troublesome."

Asuma watched him. Inwardly, he gave Sakura the thumbs up. It was rare to ever see Shikamaru so riled up.

He almost smiled.

He stood up, calling for Ino and Chouji to come closer. When they reached him, he said, "You three can all go home."

"What?" was everyone's reaction.

"Think about it." Asuma fingered his cigarette. "Ino's undergoing some issues right now. It'll be boring if it's just two of you, right? Come back tomorrow, maybe I'll have something else figured out for you guys to do."

The three of them dispersed, Ino walking in between Shikamaru and Chouji, just like she always used to. Asuma couldn't help it; he smirked.

"Good luck, Shikamaru."

--** tsuzuku: to be continued** --


	5. His Smile

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Disclaimer: I own not Naruto.

****

And They Say Chivalry is Dead

Chapter 5: His Smile

Ino strode down the concrete path. Shikamaru had already dropped her off at her house, but she didn't feel like going back just yet, and she walked this way because it felt familiar to her.

Shikamaru was awfully nice to her. But sometimes, it felt like he didn't really want to do this, and a small part of her was annoyed by that, since from what she'd heard, **he** had been the one who'd made her lose her memories, and so he should be the one doing this. But another part of her reasoned that if she were in his situation, she'd been pretty annoyed, too. So she'd convinced him to leave her at her house and she set off on her own.

She felt frustrated, that she couldn't remember anything. She hadn't even known her own name.

Well, then, her mind wondered, did Shikamaru's name set off some sort of alarm?

She sighed, thinking nothing of it, kicking at a small pebble. But she had to admit, that she liked spending time with the boy, even if he was a little boring.

Her eyes drifted shut, and she went that way: Walking down the sidewalk, eyes closed, head tilted up so that her face was illuminated by the sun's rays. She pulled up her sleeves to her elbows. Her eyes were still shut, and eventually...

"Ow!" She cried, falling back on the concrete. She grudgingly opened her eyes, standing up and dusting herself off. Then, she suddenly remembered she had knocked into someone else, "I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going!"

She stopped talking as soon as she saw pink hair.

"It's you," Ino said, sounding surprised. That girl that had looked so familiar, back in that ramen shop. What was her name? Sakura? It suited her, she thought absently, with her strange pink hair.

"Ino-pig?" Sakura clapped a hand to her mouth, instantly remembering about Ino's "situation." She grinned sheepishly as she pushed herself up from the sidewalk. "I mean, Ino."

"You were my friend, right?" Ino was feeling friendly at the moment, and she needed someone to talk to, and for some reason she wanted to talk to her, a fellow female.

"Oh, yeah." Sakura smiled. "I screwed up, though."

"You did?" Ino didn't understand.

"Ohh," Sakura bit her lip. "Why don't we go for ice cream? My treat. I'll tell you everything you need to know."

---

"Chocolate," Ino decided, staring at the huge containers of ice cream she was suddenly faced with.

"Vanilla," Sakura added. She grinned at Ino. "You haven't lost all of your memories, have you? You loved chocolate ice cream, but you were always busy watching your weight and stuff."

"Was I?"

"Ooh, yeah." Sakura took the large bowl of ice cream and Ino followed suit. They sat down at a booth. "At least, that's what you told everyone. But in reality you ate more than you let on, when nobody was looking."

Ino giggled, burying a spoon within the huge mounds of dark chocolate. "So tell me. Shikamaru said that we used to be best friends or something, and then something happened."

Sakura stuck her tongue out, defeatedly. "I was a bit of an idiot," she explained.

Ino raised her eyebrows.

"I don't like admitting it," Sakura went on, voice considerably lower. She stuck a spoonful of vanilla ice cream in her mouth and she frowned thoughtfully. "We were pretty good friends. I was going through a rough time, the other girls were always making fun of me, but you helped me with it. And then that's when Sasuke-kun entered the picture." She made a face. "I started liking him. But then I found out you liked him too, and I threw our friendship away for him." She sighed, the spoon hanging from the corner of her mouth, "it's not a decision I'm particularly proud of."

"Uchiha Sasuke..." Ino let the name roll off her tongue, but it made no connection, unlike Shikamaru's name and Sakura's name had. "You know, Shikamaru always gets a strange look on his face when he says that name."

Sakura looked amused. "Does he?"

"Yeah.." Ino took a large spoonful of chocolate ice-cream.

"What kind of look?" Sakura looked very interested.

Ino stopped to think, "the kind of look like he wants to strangle him and feed him to the vultures."

Sakura burst out laughing, and Ino followed suit.

"So," Ino said after she managed to stop laughing, "tell me about this Sasuke-kun. What was it about him that you threw our friendship away?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and slumped over on the table. "Well, he's really cute. You've seen him, haven't you?"

Ino nodded. "Yeah. Pretty good-looking."

Sakura grinned. "And he has this mysterious aura about him. And he's kinda cold. Okay, very cold. He gets pissed off easily. He's always yelling at people. He wouldn't think twice about girls. In fact, he's always going around trying to get stronger and fighting with a bunch of other guys --" Sakura stopped short, looking horrified. "Oh, God."

Ino reached over and patted the other girl on the shoulder -- it was pure instinct. "I'm sure he's not gay."

Sakura shook her head. "Oh, I hope not. It would just be so disappointing after I spent all this time chasing after him."

Ino laughed softly and took another spoonful of ice-cream. "Shikamaru said that I like him too."

"Yeah." Sakura snorted. "That's kind of an understatement. We were always competing over him."

"But," Ino realized something suddenly, "if we weren't friends anymore, how come you're talking to me now?"

"Chuunin exam," Sakura explained. "You know what a Chuunin is, right? It's like, the middle rank among ninjas. We were taking the exam, and in the prelims, we had to fight against each other."

Ino nodded, taking this all in.

"We tied," Sakura told her, eating another bite of vanilla ice cream with relish, "and I dunno, after that, we just sort of picked up where we left off." She stuck a heaping spoon of ice cream in her mouth, "we need each other, Ino, it's just the two of us, among four idiotic men. Not so much Sasuke-kun, of course." She giggled heartily. "But if we don't have each other, we'll go insane."

Ino smiled. "Shikamaru seems really nice, though."

"Oh yeah." Sakura smiled through her ice cream. "And later on, I remember you told me, that you didn't really like Sasuke-kun anymore, that it was all mostly for show since you didn't want to lose to me."

Ino nodded to show she was listening.

"And then..." Sakura picked the cherry off the top of her ice-cream and put it in her mouth, "you told me that there was somebody else you had your eye on. But it was in a different way than Sasuke-kun, and that it was starting to scare you."

Ino squirmed, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "Who was it?"

Sakura grinned. "I shouldn't say."

"Oh, why not?!" Her voice came out louder than it should have, and the blonde girl clapped a hand to her mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell."

Sakura broke out of her startled reverie. "No, no. That's the old Ino. She's starting to break through."

But Ino was not about to let Sakura go, maybe this was part of the old Ino everyone continuously told her about. "So who was it?"

"I shouldn't say." Sakura shook her head.

"Why not?" Ino's voice grew impatient.

"Because," Sakura said, looking pensive, "if I tell you, you'll feel like you're required to like him! And then that will ruin everything."

"I guess that makes sense," Ino admitted. "But I wish I knew."

Sakura smiled. "I'll tell you about him," she offered. "That much I can do."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Where to begin..." Sakura began to stir at her ice-cream, already melted. "You've known him for a long time," she told the blonde girl, "and you're pretty close. He's nice, and smart, and I know I can trust my best friend with him." She winked at this point.

Ino raised her eyebrows. "How does he feel about me, then?"

"See, now **that's** the hard part." Sakura sighed, exasperatedly. "I'm pretty sure he feels the same way for you, you see, but since you're always going on about Sasuke-kun, he probably feels discouraged, so he doesn't say anything at all."

Ino's lips curved downwards. "Well, that's not good."

"No. No, it isn't."

"What about me?" The blonde kunoichi asked curiously. "How do I act around him?"

"You pretend you don't feel a thing for him," Sakura answered bluntly. "And you're always talking about Sasuke-kun this and Sasuke-kun that. I feel sorry for the guy, really."

Ino scowled. "But...why do I do that?"

"Why?" Sakura smiled suddenly. "Because you're Ino. That's what you do. Think about it, if you liked a guy, really liked a guy, not just some puppy-love crush like you had on Sasuke-kun, what would you do? Would you go marching up to the guy and declare your neverending love?"

Ino thought for a second, and then pulled a face. "No, I guess not."

"See? It's the way you are. Because the Yamanaka Ino I know never could handle her true feelings."

Ino sighed, finishing the remnants of her ice-cream.

"I wish I wasn't like that."

Sakura patted the other girl on the shoulder, much like Ino had done for her earlier. "I'm sure he feels the same way."

Ino thought about the pink-haired girl's words for a second, and then frowned. "Hey.."

---

The next day, Ino answered the door when knocks resounded on them. She smiled pleasantly at the boy who stood sullenly on her front porch.

"Hi, Shikamaru."

"Mmph. Hey, Ino."

He was in a bad mood, she noted as she led him to the kitchen. She thought she might ask why, but thought better of it: Sometimes, other people needed some privacy.

So she jerked in surprise when he decided to start a new conversation. "What do you want to do today?"

"Today?" She drummed her fingers on the counter. "I didn't feel like going out today."

Now it was his turn to be surprised. "You don't? Then what do you want to do?"

"Stay at home," she answered, "you can still help me get my memory back at home, can't you?"

"....I guess," he agreed reluctantly. She noticed that he continuously looked around. "...is your dad home?"

"No." She saw that he relaxed visibly. "Yeah, I guess he's kind of intimidating."

"No kidding." He was definitely irritated. She couldn't help but wonder why.

"Okay." She broke the silence after awhile, and said the first thing that popped out of her mouth, "do you want to make smoothies?"

He blinked.

She was growing more impatient, but she tried to hide it. Ducking under the counter, she grabbed a blender. Then she went over to the fridge and took out whatever fruits she could find.

"Smoothies?" he repeated, looking at her in utter disbelief.

"Smoothies," she affirmed. "Why? Don't you like smoothies?"

He shrugged in reply, "They're okay... but...aren't you... I dunno... watching your weight?"

Ino thought and remembered what Sakura had told her. "Maybe the old me used to. But I don't want to."

Shikamaru snorted. "You're different, all right."

She smiled. "Well, yeah. I mean, if a guy's in love with me, he shouldn't care if I'm fat or skinny. Right?"

He glanced at her, shocked. "You know, I could get used to this new you."

"Ha, really?" Ino plugged the blender in and began tossing in some strawberries.

"Wait." Shikamaru glanced at the blender. "Shouldn't you wash the fruits first?"

Ino blinked. "Should I?"

"....yeah. I think you should."

"Okay." And she proceeded to lug all the fruits -- bananas, strawberries, raspberries -- to the sink. After a while of simply standing there looking bewildered, Shikamaru decided to help.

"So what's the deal?" he asked her after a moment of silence. "You don't remember anything yet?"

"No," she admitted. "I'm trying, I really am."

"It's out of your control," he said matter-of-factly. "You can't do anything."

"I guess..." Shikamaru had finished drying the fruits she had washed. She brought the blender closer to the fruits and after finding an outlet, plugged it in.

"Okay. Strawberries." Ino tossed in a few strawberries. "..and, raspberries." She tossed in some of those too. Then she added a few other key ingredients and pressed the on button.

Without putting the top on the blender.

Ino froze as she surveyed the currently dripping wet Shikamaru, partially blended strawberries and raspberries scattered all over his body.

"Sorry?" she tried tentatively. He was already in a bad mood when he'd gotten there, and she was sure she had done nothing to help. She grabbed the roll of paper towels and began to towel his hair dry. "I'm really, really sorry."

She began to grow worried when he said nothing. She took some more paper towels and began to wipe the liquid off his arms, and soon, his face.

She froze as soon as she met his eyes.

They were calm, and they stared into her cerulean eyes evenly, without so much as a trace of anger, as she had expected. She swallowed. She tried to blink, but she found that she couldn't. She tried to rip her eyes away. But she couldn't. Soon she was wiping at his forehead, without breaking his gaze.

His hand closed around her wrist.

"Don't worry about it, okay," he mumbled. He grabbed some of the paper towels and began to dry himself off. Ino ripped her eyes away, cheeks hot.

"Are you sure?" she asked, worriedly.

"Yeah...yeah." He looked up, and he was half-smiling, crookedly, at her.

His smile...

Suddenly, Ino clutched at her head, something inside her head, threatening to burst if she didn't let it out. She leaned against the wall, breathing hard.

"Are you okay?" Shikamaru's worried eyes looked straight into her.

Ino fainted.

---

_"My name's Ino," a blonde girl around the age of six says cheerfully, smiling at the introverted young boy. Her father brought her there, because he'd had some catching up to do with one of his best friends. Normally she didn't like to play with boys, but everything else was boring, and she needed to do something._

He looks away.

Her temper, which she was well known for, begins rising.

"What's your name?" she prods, unwilling to give up.

He glances at her quickly, looking annoyed. "It's Shikamaru."

Ino nods to show that she understands. "How are you?"

"Mm. Good." He avoids her eyes and continues to stare at the clouds.

Ino sighs, turning to look at the clouds as well. "Why are you looking at the clouds?"

"Because," he murmurs, "they don't have to do anything. They can just float around. They don't have to answer questions."

"That's what you want to be?" Ino pulls a face.

He looks amused. "Yeah."

"It sounds kinda boring."

"I guess I'm a boring person."

"Noooo," Ino shakes her head, "I don't think you're boring. I think you're strange."

And all of a sudden, he smiles.

-- **tsuzuku: to be continued** --

XD The little insert bit about Sakura wondering whether Sasuke is gay or not was sort of..kind of... based on.. coughtakenfromcough from one of the many hilarious chapters of _Naruto Primer_ by Link and Luigi. Read it if you haven't already!


	6. The Movie

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Disclaimer: I own not Naruto.

****

And They Say Chivalry is Dead

Chapter 6: The Movie

The past three days, it seemed to Shikamaru, seemed to have dragged on and on and on and **on**. Like, just the other day, he had gone over to Ino's house, and they had made smoothies. And then, she had forgotten to put the top on the blender so he'd had to go home, soaking wet, and smelling like he'd just put on a whole bottle of Bath and Body lotion. Then, to top it all off, she'd fainted, and he'd had to lift her up on his back and put her in her room, and then he'd had to explain to Yamanaka Inoshi that it had been a pure and total accident. He was lucky he'd excaped unscathed.

The day after that, Shikamaru had taken Ino to the park, and he'd showed her the place where he had hit her with his kunai. She remembered absolutely nothing, and they basically spent the whole day just walking around the park in awkward silence.

The day after that, they had gone, again, to Ichiraku, and unsurprisingly Naruto was there. Ino and Naruto had an interesting conversation, but, again, Ino's memories still remained gone, and he walked her home in silence.

Why was it, he wondered, that he couldn't seem to hold a decent conversation with the girl? There was nothing to say, maybe? She tried to strike up conversation, but it would die away quickly. Just like it always did, even back then, but Shikamaru felt sullen, and closed-in, and he wanted nothing more than to stay away from her.

Stay away from her...

He hates it when she's around him, or when he's around her. He grudgingly accepted her presence when they were a team and when they went out training, but that's because he had to. He never wanted to be around her. But she was always around him, and he couldn't tell her to go away, lest her infamous temper blew up.

She was always so annoying. Always talking about Sasuke-kun this and Sasuke-kun that, and how she would vow to beat her eternal rival, Sakura. He thought her stupid for letting a silly boy get in the way of their friendship, and he thought it stupid that she would go so far as to wear binds just so she would look thinner and sexier for a boy who never glanced her way, not even once.

He thought her stupid because she never noticed, not even once, what was standing right in front of her.

"Troublesome," he couldn't help but murmur as he threw off the sheets; their air conditioner was broken again and it was excruciatingly hot. He hated it when he would think about her. Her image would fly, without warning, into his mind, and before he knew it he was thinking about her again.

Most of all, he hated it when she smiled at him. Back then, sometimes she would smile, if she felt like it, but now, now she smiled everyday, all the time. It was like it came naturally to her, her lips tugging upwards and showing everyone how happy she was. Sometimes he would smile at her too, his own crooked little smile, and he hated that because he hated smiling because smiling was too troublesome and only Ino could make him do something that he thought was troublesome, and he hated that, hated that, hated that, hated that.

He sighed.

There were three more days to go.

---

"Morning," he grunted as Ino pushed past him and looked around at the house. She was curious about the place where he lived, although why he wouldn't know.

"Morning," she greeted him pleasantly. "So this is where you live?"

Suddenly, Shikamaru felt embarrassed about his house for the first time. His house was considerably smaller and much more run-down than the house Ino was used to living in. Her house was grand and beautiful, and this was tiny and worn-down. A thought flitted through his head, _She's too good for me_.

"Yeah." He scratched at the back of his neck, something he did out of habit whenever he felt uncomfortable.

"Listen," Ino said eagerly, "we've gone out to the village for the past couple of days, but it hasn't worked, right?"

"...right." Shikamaru wondered what she had in mind.

"And, I don't really like going out much," Ino admitted, "so is it okay if we just stay here?"

"Here?" The lazy boy was surprised. "What would we do here?"

"I brought a movie!" The blonde girl dug something out from the small knapsack hanging on her shoulder, "and I thought maybe we could watch it here."

A movie? He hated movies.

"Is -- Is it okay?" She was suddenly aware of the bored look on his face. She hung her head. "I guess if you don't want to we could watch something else."

"Ugh. Stop it."

She was taken aback. "What?"

"This -- This isn't Ino," he explained, a pounding throbbing in his head, "if I said something she didn't agree with she would beat me and hurt me until I said yes."

She looked confused. "You want me to do that?"

"No! I -- oh --" Shikamaru felt it would be too troublesome to continue, so he just shook his head. "Forget it. Let's just watch it."

"Okay!" She smiled again, and he fought the urge to slam his head against the wall. He was, all of a sudden, aware of the red splashes on her cheeks. "The thing is...it's kind of a scary movie..." She looked at the floor. "So...I mean, you'll watch it...with me...right?"

Shikamaru, for the first time, looked amused -- he remembered that Ino loved horror movies, but she could never take them and she would spend the next few days, even weeks, always looking behind her shoulder.

"Yeah. Yeah, I will."

---

"And that's the situation, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade looked amusedly at Nara Shikato, a grin threatening to break out on her lips. "What do you want me to do about it, Nara?"

Shikato grinned as well. "I dunno, Hokage-sama, whatever you feel is the best."

"Do you want me to intervene?" The Godaime took a sip of her sake.

"Could you?"

"I could, yeah, quite easily."

"Will you?"

"No, probably not."

"I thought as much." Shikato smiled, the Godaime was a very friendly person, but one could definitely feel intimidated in her office, as big and huge as it was. "It's cute seeing my son struggle and seeing Ino always smiling and making him blush and pissing him off, but I'm afraid he'll snap one of these days."

"It would be such a waste to send one of our smartest Chuunins to the asylum," Tsunade noted.

"He has three days left before the punishment Inoshi doles out on him is over," Shikato contributed. "Could we wait until then?"

"I guess we could." The blonde woman took another sip of her sake. "I have something, a special little something that could get Ino's memory back, no problem. But these amnesia cases, they usually regain their memory pretty quickly, most of it depends on the victim himself, if he really wants to get his memories back."

"Really?" Shikato frowned. "That's odd."

"Don't worry about it. It's only been four days, right?"

"Right."

"There's still plenty of time. And," she trailed off, a wicked grin appearing on her lips, "it would be interesting to see how this turns out."

---

Ino snuck a peek at the boy sitting about a foot away from her on the couch. He seemed so strange, like he was almost afraid of her. He had his eyes focused straight ahead on the television, and she was watching it as well, but truthfully, it was getting awfully scary and he had an inexplicable urge to cling onto Shikamaru's arm and bury her face in the couch pillows.

She really didn't understand him. Sometimes he was easy to get along with, other times he was downright irritated, like he didn't want to do this. And he was always saying stuff about "being troublesome" and always looking bored and whatnot. She didn't understand him, not one bit.

The other thing she didn't understand was that scene that had suddenly popped into her head -- she knew it was her and Shikamaru when they were younger, but she didn't bother telling anyone, that would have caused too much chaos and trouble. And besides, what if it was just a dream?

She already knew that she liked it when he smiled. Maybe it was because it was such a rare occurence, and he had this strange, crooked little grin, and then it would disappear, and it would be forever until she saw it again.

"This isn't that scary," Shikamaru suddenly stated bluntly. "It's obvious that the other guy's the killer."

"Eh?" Ino glanced back at the screen, where a bloodied sight met her eyes. She quickly averted her gaze. "Oh, um, really?"

He looked at her strangely. "Are you all right?"

"Yes!" Her voice was high-pitched.

"Are you scared?"

"No!" Her voice came out louder, sharper. Was this the old Ino everyone talked about?

Something flickered in his eyes. "There's the old Ino. Yelling and screaming."

She couldn't find anything to say to that.

"Did you hate her?" she asked him quietly.

He jerked, surprised. "What?"

"Ino. The old Ino." Her throat was dry. "Did you hate her?"

He was deep in thought, eyes glaring heatedly at the television screen.

"Sometimes," he replied finally, "because she made me feel feelings I'd never felt before."

"What?" But he determinedly avoided her eyes, and she supposed that was the end.

---

The movie, in his honest opinion, was boring. It was the same old thing: Some lunatic axe-murderer went around killing everybody that decided to piss him off. He leaned against the arm of the chair, cupping his chin in his hands.

Did he say too much?

The pineapple-haired boy let out a sigh, mostly out of habit. Why had he gone and said that? It probably confused her even more. He had been caught up in the moment, and he had said things he shouldn't have said. Damn.

He heard her squirming around in the seat. She'd been doing that for the past fifteen minutes; the movie was steadily reaching its climax, the axe-murderer raising his obviously fake axe, his target cowering in fear. He thought lazily that she shouldn't watch such things if she couldn't even handle them.

Should he ask her if she was okay? Maybe, he should.

He turned his head towards her, "Ino, are you okay? Argh!"

She suddenly launched herself at him, burying her face in his shoulder, clinging much too tightly onto his arm, and onto the forehead protector tied on there. His face colored instantly, and he tried shaking the terrified girl off, but her grip was too tight, and he stopped.

"It's so scary," she mumbled, voice muffled into his shirt. She curled up against him.

It was pure instinct -- Shikamaru's other unoccupied arm drifted towards the shaken girl and rested on her shoulder.

"It's...okay..." he tried. His hand went down to the small of her back, rubbing the tense muscles gently. "It's...okay." And eventually that arm slid around her frame protectively, holding her as if he would never let any harm come to her, ever.

And did you know what the worst part of it all was?

It was that he liked every bit of it.

--** tsuzuku: to be continued** --

Heehee, the ending was inspired by this one Friends episode...I believe it was Rachel and Joey in that situation.. .


	7. Her Flower Shop

****

Disclaimer: I own not Naruto.

__

Here's a bit of trivial information: Today, July 23rd, is Uchiha Sasuke's birthday! XD

****

And They Say Chivalry is Dead

Chapter 7: Her Flower Shop

"Rise and shine, boy!"

And that was how Shikamaru awoke to this glorious morning, which in all actuality really wasn't all that gorgeous, because there were clouds scattered all over the sky and it looked like it was about to rain. But we digress.

"Leave me alone," he grumbled, burying his head under the pillows. But would his father relent, and allow his one and only son an extra half-hour of sleep?

Of course not.

Noooo, his father chose to whip the sheets off the bed, and when that didn't stop the boy from sleeping, he walked right over to the window and opened it. Widely. Bringing in the extremely cold breeze.

"Dammit!" Shikamaru snarled, bolting up in bed and glaring daggers at his father. Unfortunately, the glare had no effect on the older man. If anything, it seemed to please him even more.

"Come on," the older man coaxed his son, "it's not that bad. You only have two more days of your community service left, don't you?"

Shikamaru sighed. "That troublesome thing? Yeah."

"Then get up, get up." When that didn't work, Shikato grabbed his son by the arms and proceeded to drag him out of bed. "You don't want to waste your last precious forty-eight hours with Ino, do you?"

Much to his dismay, Shikamaru's face colored. Obviously, he hadn't forgotten about the movie incident yesterday. "Hah," he spat out, "I'm glad that it's almost over. Then I won't have to worry about her anymore!"

Shikato chuckled, loudly. "You know what, Shikamaru? That's cute. Real cute."

---

This time, it was his turn to go seek out Ino. He was unsure of why his father was so excited and eager to get him out of bed so early in the morning, but he figured it was one of those troublesome things, and his mind didn't linger on it for very long.

He wondered idly what plans she had for today. He didn't have any brilliant ideas of his own, and he was sure he could stomach anything she suggested, after that crappy movie she'd made him see last night.

_Turn left here, and then keep on going straight until you see that purple house..._

Did he like her?

Yes. Yes, he did.

It was something he would never admit to anyone, not even Chouji, but it was the truth, he did, he did, he did. Why? Even the boy with the amazing IQ of over 200 didn't know. Maybe only God knew. And He certainly wasn't giving Shikamaru any answers, that was for sure.

It would be so easy, he realized, not for the first time as in shuffled down the sidewalk. So frustratingly easy that it was tempting. Like the devil himself had risen from the depths of hell to tempt just him, and him alone.

He wasn't just intelligent. He was **smart**. He knew what could be done, he knew what he could have done, what he should have done. Ino wasn't the brightest girl in the village, and he knew he could change all these things without her ever knowing, ever figuring it out.

He could manipulate her. He could tell her all these things, and who would be there to tell her otherwise? Sakura, perhaps, but he could make sure that she didn't say a word.

He could make her forget all about Sasuke.

He could make her hate Sasuke.

He could even...make her love him, Shikamaru.

Maybe his intelligence was a curse. Maybe. Probably. He didn't want to be smart, he'd never asked for it. He didn't want to feel this way, he'd never asked to feel this way. He didn't want to feel this way about Ino. It would only complicate things, and in the end, it would be him with the broken heart, while she eventually would chase after Sasuke, again.

When Ino's memory would come back, he didn't know.

But what he did know, was that when it did, so would her feelings for Uchiha Sasuke.

---

"Hey, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura chirped cheerily as she chased after the stoic boy, "what do you say we go out on a date today, huh?"

"No," he replied, just as he always had.

She wasn't disappointed anymore at his replies, not anymore. Maybe she had gotten used to them. "Oh, all right then."

He snorted and continued to walk on. Sakura continued to follow him, but her mind, for once, was on something else, not on Sasuke.

_Well, Ino-pig_, she thought wryly, _I hope you're having more luck than I am_.

---

But Ino's luck was not much better. Shikamaru acted as he always did: bored, and lazy. He had found her in the flower shop, and he had raised his eyebrows upon the sight of her holding a bouquet of peach blossoms.

"Hi," she greeted him.

"Hi," he replied. "Peach blossoms?"

She smiled. "Pretty, aren't they?"

He nodded halfheartedly. "Sure." They were, somewhat. A memory he had locked up deep inside him came to him, a small boy with messy hair tied up hastily, holding a squished bouquet of peach blossoms to a bewildered girl with bright eyes.

There it was, silence again. Shikamaru stared down at his feet. He had come here before, on many occasions. Ino would rant and talk to him about whatever was currently on her mind. He supposed it was because the only person she had been able to ever talk freely with was Sakura, and they were going through some issues, so she decided to pour her heart out to him.

"Hey, Shikamaru?"

Startled, the Chuunin looked up and met her eyes. He swallowed.

"Yeah?"

"What's your favorite flower?"

"....."

Shikamaru was aware of the uncomfortable quiet in the room. The shop had just opened, so not many people had come in yet. It was just the two of them, surrounded by dozens and dozens of flowers. She waited, patiently, for his answer, her blue eyes staring straight into his own.

"...the peach blossoms," he finally replied. "Like the ones you're holding right there."

"Really?" Ino lit up. "I don't know what the old me liked, but peach blossoms are my favorite flowers too!"

His heart pounded in his chest as he said, "I know."

---

Ino convinced Shikamaru to remain in the flower shop. She seemed to like it there, claiming it was something about the flowers that calmed her and soothed her. While Shikamaru had never been a big fan of the flower shop since all the scents of the blossoms irritated his nose, he didn't complain, and stayed with her.

"Shikamaru?"

He looked up from the yellow roses he had unconsciously been studying. "What is it?"

"Well..." She chewed on a lollipop she had been sucking on, "you're supposed to be helping me get my memory back, right?"

"Right." Although he hadn't been doing a really good job of it.

"Then...do you think you could tell me about my past?"

He had been dreading this moment. But how was he to refuse?

"...yeah." He began scratching at the back of his neck. "...what do you want to know?"

"Anything," she answered, leaning against the counter. "How you met me. What our relationship was like, stuff like that. I mean, we were pretty good friends, weren't we? And," she rambled on before he could interrupt, "I know you told me that the old me hated you, but I don't think she did. So leave that part out, okay?"

"...." Shikamaru sighed. "Okay, I guess."

She smiled at him, and he quickly looked away.

"We met when your dad came over to our house," Shikamaru explained. "And then you.." He couldn't help but let a small grin come to his lips, "started bugging me and wouldn't leave me alone."

Ino pouted. "I bet you're lying."

"Believe what you will." Shikamaru shrugged carelessly. "And that's how we met. Ever since then, you've never left me alone."

Ino grinned, teasingly. "What would you ever do without me?"

"Lots of things," came the quick reply. "Like watching the clouds."

That took the blonde girl by surprise. "Clouds?" she asked, disbelievingly.

Shikamaru grinned. "That's how she reacted, too. She thought it was a stupid habit of mine, watching the clouds."

Ino frowned, "well, I've never really heard of anyone watching the clouds as a hobby."

"To each his own," came Shikamaru's reply.

"Say," Ino leaned over the counter, "do you think maybe you could take me cloud-watching one of these days?"

Shikamaru gaped. Then, when he realized he'd been gaping, he quickly closed his mouth.

"What?" Ino asked, a little irritated.

"You," said Shikamaru in utter bewilderment, "want to watch the clouds?"

"Yes." Her blonde head bobbed up and down. "I want to watch the clouds."

He tried to talk her out of it. "But it's boring," he reasoned, "you'd hate it."

"You never know until you try," Ino said, taking some other flowers he couldn't recognize and beginning to rearrange them.

"But --"

"Shh." In a flash, Ino had dropped the flowers onto the glass counter, leaned over, and pressed her index finger against her lips. Shikamaru stiffened at the sudden contact, but didn't move away.

"Listen," she told him, "I **want** to watch the clouds, all right? If I hate it, so be it, I'll have to deal with it. But let me try, will you? You only live once, you know."

Shikamaru was a little too preoccupied with her finger on his lips. She seemed to realize this, because she pulled away, seeming sheepish.

"Oops. Sorry."

"Tomorrow," he suddenly said.

She failed to understand. "Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," he repeated, "I'll take you to see the clouds."

She brightened up. "Will you really?"

"Yeah. Sure."

He knew he shouldn't, he knew that. He knew he was only setting himself up for a fall that would undoubtedly hurt as much as the flames of hell itself.

But....if it meant seeing that smile on her face...

He was willing to take that risk.

---

Her head was hurting.

It was a slight, throbbing type of pain, but she tried to ignore it.

"Oh.." She clutched at her head, wishing that the pain would go away, but it would not --

"Ino! What's wrong?!"

His face, concerned and worried, was the last thing she saw before she fell into unconsciousness.

---

_She is eight years old again, but she wants to be seen as a woman. That is what she has always wanted, but everybody only saw her as a little girl. She sighs, and cranes her neck so that she can see the sky._

"The clouds are pretty today," she says wistfully, "I wish I could be a cloud."

"Why?" He suddenly appears behind her, and scares her greatly -- but she doesn't want him to know that, so she instinctively clutches at her heart, hoping that he doesn't notice.

"Why what?" she manages to gasp.

"Why do you want to be a cloud?" he repeats, good-naturedly.

"If you're a cloud," Ino explains, "you don't have to worry about...anything. You can just be free. You aren't tied down to anything, you have no responsibilities. Wouldn't that be nice?"

"Hmm. Sounds like I've heard that somewhere before." Ino watched as some kind of understanding dawned on his countenance.

"Say," Ino suggests, "do you want to watch the clouds with me?"

"....." For a moment, it looks like he is about to refuse, and something deep inside her clenches, causing some kind of pain to surge within her. But then he surprises her, as he always does: "Okay."

-- tsuzuku: to be continued --

Ohhh, thank you all for your reviews. They all mean so much to me! hugs

I've been on a NaruHina kick for the past week. XD Soo, I beg of all of you to read the following NaruHina stories!

__

Stolen Kisses by NuttyScribbler - This is probably the fanfic that made me really fall in love with NaruHina. It's ultra fluffy and cute. That's why I love it! I love it so much, I have it saved on my computer so I can read it whenever I feel like it. Yeah. I need to get a life, don't I?

__

Three Kinds by b-chan1 - It's gooooooood. It's set back when Naruto and Hinata are six, so it's got this little innocence and childishness to it. Also saved on my computer! XD

__

Two Halves by DameWren - This made my jaw drop. Seriously. It's very well-written, and I can imagine it happening in the series... I love stories like that. It's not done yet, currently at 16 chapters, but it's definitely worth a read.

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A Typical Love Story by EneriRenie - Made me squeal and go "Awwwww!" the whole way. There's a bit of a twist towards the end, but don't worry, it's a happy ending! [hope I didn't spoil anything.] Again, saved on my computer. Heh. Heh. slips away

OK! See! I plugged for all of you! Hahah..


	8. His Clouds

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Disclaimer: I own not Naruto.

****

And They Say Chivalry is Dead

Chapter 8: His Clouds

"Troublesome," the pineapple-haired boy muttered as he hoisted Ino onto his back and exited the flower shop, attracting stares from the women, eyes hungry for gossip. "God. You. Why did you faint like that? That's the second time, you know."

She made no reply, her head hanging lifelessly over her shoulder.

Once the street was free of cars, Shikamaru crossed it, taking his own sweet time.

"I don't want to have to explain this to your father," he mumbled, hoping dearly that Ino's father wasn't home and that her mother would answer the door. Ino's mother was much friendlier, and easier to deal with.

After reciting a short prayer, he knocked on the door three times and waited for someone to answer.

The door swung open.

"Shikamaru."

Shikamaru groaned inwardly. It was Inoshi. "Yamanaka-san."

Inoshi smiled again, showing his bright, pearly-white teeth. "Come in, why don't you?"

---

"And that's it, sir," Shikamaru finished with his promise of taking Ino to see the clouds tomorrow. Inoshi's eyes never left him. "I swear. That's all."

"It just strikes me as odd," Inoshi said, voice smooth, "that both times my daughter has fainted, she seemed to have been in your company."

Damn. "Yes, sir."

"I spoke to Tsunade-sama," Inoshi said suddenly. "Or, well, your dad did. And he told me something."

_Tsunade-sama_. Shikamaru's heart sunk as he remembered that their current Hokage was also a brilliant medical specialist, the best in all of Fire Country. "What's that?"

"Tsunade-sama has something in her power that could easily regain Ino's lost memory."

Unconsciously, Shikamaru sunk down lower in his seat. "Why doesn't she use it, then?"

"The Godaime has a twisted sense of humor," the blond man replied. "Surely that's enough of an explanation for you."

"..." Shikamaru said nothing, it was.

"She also happened to mention that it is up to the will of the victim herself," Inoshi went on, eyes staring directly at Shikamaru's, "the victim has to **want** her memories back."

"....."

Inoshi looked at him.

"What are you trying to say, Yamanaka-san?"

He sighed heavily. "You're my best friend's son, Shikamaru. I don't want to see you setting yourself up for a hard fall, all right?"

What? Shikamaru glanced curiously at Ino's father.

"I'm saying, Ino will eventually have her memories back. Whether you like it or not."

"Of course I want her to have her memories back --" argued Shikamaru, but he was cut off.

"And when she does, everything will go back to the way it was."

_Everything.._

Back to the way it was..

There was nothing untrue about the statement. There was nothing surprising about the statement. He had lay awake on many nights, thinking of the exact same thing.

"I know that," Shikamaru said, throat suddenly extremely dry. "I know that."

"Sometimes, I don't think you do." Inoshi allowed a small, slight grin to cross his lips. "My daughter's kind of oblivious to things around her. I think you know what I mean."

Shikamaru determinedly avoided the man's eyes.

"I don't want to see you getting hurt, is all. Even if I don't seem that way."

Maybe he should have felt gratitude. And he did, just a tiny bit of it.

And he didn't want to get hurt. He never did.

But the fact of the matter was..

No matter how hard he tried to deny it..

No matter how hard he tried to hide it..

No matter how hard he tried to ignore it..

"Yamanaka-san.." Shikamaru stood up and bowed politely. "Thank you for your concern. But.."

He glanced at the unconscious girl on the couch.

"I'm afraid it's too late."

He met his eyes, and he didn't feel any fear, none at all.

"I've already gotten hurt."

---

Ino smiled to herself, for no reason at all, as she blinked her eyes open. She recognized it as her house, and she noticed that she was on the couch, with a light, thin shirt draped over her. No wonder she had felt so warm and pleasant in her sleep.

"That boy," her father said to himself, shaking his head as he looked out the window. "He's some kid."

"Who?" she asked.

"Oh, you're awake!" Inoshi smiled at his daughter. "You fainted again."

"Again?" Ino remembered how she had fainted a few days before, and how she had gotten that sudden flashback of when she and Shikamaru were kids. The same thing had happened again...

"Are you sure you're all right?" Her father looked concerned, and somehow she remembered somebody else's anxious face, hovering above her own..

"Shikamaru!" She suddenly exclaimed. Her father's countenance went from worried to surprise. "Wasn't I with him? Where did he go?" She didn't wait for her father to answer; she picked up the shirt that covered her. It looked familiar, and she showed it to her father, "isn't this his?"

"Ohh.." Inoshi nodded slowly. "I thought he looked a little different."

"He left?!" Ino leapt from the couch and joined her father at the window. She caught a glimpse of his retreating form. "I'm going to go see him. I'll be back soon!" And without waiting for her dad's reply, she threw open the door and ran off after the brooding boy.

"Oh -- okay --" Inoshi stepped out to the porch, closing the door silently behind him. With a smirk on his face, he watched the exchange between the two kids. "Somehow, I get the feeling that Shikamaru isn't hurting too much anymore."

---

"Shikamaru!" He turned at the sound of his name and saw Ino, running breathlessly towards him. He stood rigidly. What was she doing there?

"Ino.." he managed to say intelligently. "What..?"

Her face was red, but whether it was from the running or because of something else, he didn't know. "I -- I wanted to thank you. For -- For bringing me home."

She was stuttering.

"You're welcome," he said after a beat of silence. "It's no problem, really. But -- shouldn't you be at home resting? You just fainted."

"I had to thank you," she told him earnestly. "And, this." She held out his shirt which he had left on her. He must have forgotten to take it back afterwards.

He took it back and began to put it on. Ino smiled at him.

"We're still going to watch the clouds tomorrow, right?"

"Right," Shikamaru agreed. How was he to refuse?

"Great.." She smiled again. "I look forward to it."

It was only then that Shikamaru realized that tomorrow would be the last day of his punishment.

---

"Well, you knew it was coming, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah!" Shikamaru moved his pawn forward. "But...it went by...so fast."

"Huh, really?" Chouji stared at the board. "You know, you were supposed to go training with Asuma on Thursday."

"Oh. Oh yeah." Shikamaru slapped his forehead. "Forgot about that."

"That was mean of you." Chouji snatched his bag of chips out of Shikamaru's reach. "Asuma-sensei made me run three laps around the village."

"But he treated you to dinner afterwards, I bet."

"Hehe." Chouji grinned and allowed Shikamaru a handful of chips. "You're right."

"Somehow this seems familiar," Shikamaru drawled, turning over to lie on the dry grass. "Doesn't it?"

"Hah, yeah. Especially to you, I bet."

"Yeah. This is all so troublesome."

"But tomorrow's the last day," Chouji reminded him. He moved his knight and captured Shikamaru's pawn. "Your move."

"Well, I know." Shikamaru flopped over, much like a fish, and took his time, letting his eyes rove around the board.

"So then shouldn't you be happy? Since your troublesome punishment is over?"

Shikamaru glared halfheartedly at his friend; he hated it when he used his words against him. "Well...somewhat."

"You started liking it, didn't you?" Chouji's eyes took on a teasing glint. "Spending all that time with her?"

"Maybe, but only because she was actually nice to me," Shikamaru retorted defensively. "Back then -- well, you know how I felt about her. It's how I got into this troublesome situation, anyway."

"But wasn't it that back when we were kids, before she started liking Sasuke, she waas always hanging around with you?"

"...yeah, I guess." Shikamaru grew uncomfortable.

"Soooo.." Chouji retrieved his favorite reading book from his bag, entitled _Love and Romance_, with the subtitle of _Want to know if the person of your dreams feels the same way? This book will tell you everything, from whether he or she is hiding it, to whether he or she downright hates your guts!_ "According to this, it probably means that she always liked you, even back then, but she was too afraid to tell you, and therefore developed a 'crush' on Sasuke to hide it. Since Sasuke was already the idol of all the girls in the village, she thought of this as the safe way out."

"......." Shikamaru gaped at his friend. "Give me that," he snarled, trying and failing to get the offending book.

"Uh-uh," Chouji grinned. "But think about it, it makes sense, doesn't it?"

"That was about as clear as mud," muttered Shikamaru. "That can't be it." As if to make his point, he took his rook and captured Chouji's knight.

"Ah! My knight!" Chouji scowled.

Shikamaru smirked.

"Hang on. So what are you guys doing tomorrow?" Chouji returned the book into his bag. "Your last precious day with Ino."

Shikamaru was too tired to argue. "Watching the clouds."

Chouji suddenly smiled, showing all of his teeth, and reminding Shikamaru frighteningly of Inoshi. "Ooh, don't you think it's a sign?"

"Chouji, you're reading too much into things." Chouji was, of course, referring to how Shikamaru and Ino had first met under the clouds. "It won't be a big deal. I'll take her to see the clouds. Try to talk about her past or whatever. And then we can go back to the way things were."

"Huh?" Chouji was confused. "What do you mean, the way things were?"

"Tsunade-sama," Shikamaru answered, wearily. "She can get Ino's memory back, even if I can't."

Chouji watched his friend. "You sound like you don't want that."

"Of course I do," snarled Shikamaru. "Why wouldn't I?"

Chouji wisely said nothing.

---

True to his word, Shikamaru met Ino sometime just before noon outside her house. She was sitting patiently outside her porch, staring out into the distance. He raised a hand in greeting as she looked up. She smiled.

"Ready to go?" he asked her.

"Uh-huh." Ino nodded. She tilted her head upwards to look at the clouds. "It's a nice day. Right?"

"Right," Shikamaru agreed, albeit uneasily.

And then, for some unknown reason, Ino suddenly said, "Wouldn't you like to be a cloud?"

For a moment, Shikamaru was too shocked to reply. Then, somehow, the words came to him, "Sure. Why not?"

"So would I," Ino said wistfully. "It would be nice. To be a cloud."

"...why would you want to be a cloud?"

"Because you would be so free," was the quick reply. "Wouldn't you want to be that way?"

Shikamaru suddenly had a vision of a smaller, younger Ino, lying down next to him on the grass, underneath the branches of a peach blossom tree, pointing upwards to the clouds that decorated the otherwise plain blue sky.

"Yeah. I would, actually."

---

They reached the park, and Shikamaru asked Ino where she wanted to sit. She pointed to the peach blossom tree, and for some unknown reason, Shikamaru's insides squirmed. But he didn't complain. He liked that spot himself, really.

"The clouds are pretty," Ino suddenly said.

"...hn." Shikamaru never really thought of the clouds as 'pretty' or not. He just liked watching them.

"Say, Shikamaru?"

Again, the pineapple-haired boy's insides squirmed. She always seemed to begin some long, drawn-out discussion with those very words. "Yeah?"

"Have you ever thought about getting married?"

Shikamaru choked.

He didn't know exactly **how** he had choked -- he wasn't even eating anything. But apparently he had been breathing in a big gulp of air, and -- well, **choked**.

"Shikamaru!" Ino crawled through the grass to him, slapping him on the back. "Are you all right?!"

Shikamaru coughed. "Yeah -- I'm okay."

Despite the fact that he had almost choked to death, Ino managed to look amused, "it's just like a guy to choke when marriage is mentioned."

Shikamaru somehow found the strength to glare, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ino looked exactly like she did back in the old days: "Men always run away from commitment. It's been that way since the dawn of time."

"Well, can you blame them?" Shikamaru was incredulous.

Ino furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

"Commitments, relationships..." Shikamaru waved his arm around, "they're all too troublesome!"

For a moment, Ino gaped like a fish. "Troublesome?! Falling in love, being in a relationship because of that love, spending the rest of your lives together with the person you love -- that's too troublesome?!"

Shikamaru wasted no time: "Yeah."

His bluntness must have surprised her. "Ugh!" She whirled around, "I can't believe you just said that!"

Shikamaru was enjoying this far too much, maybe because she was acting exactly like the old Ino. "Well, believe it. That's what I've always believed. And I'm not going to change my beliefs now."

"Well," Ino said, a challenging look on her face, "what if you meet someone you really, really like? And you fall in love with her? Or him," she added, teasingly.

Shikamaru ignored her last statement. "Nah. I don't think I'll fall in love. It's too troublesome."

Ino threw her hands up exasperatedly. "You never know when you'll fall in love! You can't just say no because it's troublesome! It just -- It just happens!"

He watched her, and then said quietly, "I know. I know."

---

"Today's the last day of my punishment, you know that?"

"Yeah," she replied. She twiddled her thumbs. "But.."

"But what?"

"Umm.. we'll still see each other around... right?"

He grinned. "Of course we will."

"By the way..thanks for, you know, putting up with me for this past week."

He waved at her. "Bah, I've been through worse."

"But still!" Her eyes were wide and starry. "Thanks. Okay?"

He scowled. "Okay, okay. You're welcome."

And then she hugged him.

It was a brief hug, lasting no more than three seconds, but to Shikamaru, it seemed so much longer. Even after he'd dropped her off at her house, and after he'd gone back to his own house, he still remembered the feel of her arms around him, and the feel of his arms around her.

It felt perfect. Absolutely perfect.

And he knew... that he wanted to hold her again, someday.

-- tsuzuku: to be continued --

Gahh.. I'm desperately trying to finish this fic before the end of summer. eyes widen at the realization Summer's going to be over soon. And then... back to the demon called SCHOOL.

Heehee.. I'm holding this Naruto fanfiction contest... for more details, go to 


	9. Her Memories

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Disclaimer: I own not Naruto.

****

And They Say Chivalry is Dead

Chapter 9: Her Memories

It was almost like she was sitting on top of a cloud, maybe? She was floating somewhere up in the sky, and it was like she was looking down, down, down, towards the ground, at her younger self.

So why was it that her younger self was always accompanied by a strange, bored boy?

She was talking, chattering animatedly to him. He looked annoyed and extremely irritated, but he said nothing, and merely let her talk. She furrowed her brow, it was so obvious he would rather be doing something else, so why didn't he stop her from talking?

Somehow she managed to descend to their level, and she caught a glimpse of what the younger version of her was saying.

_"Ohh, I met Sasuke-kun for the first time today. He was soooo cute, Shika! You ought to meet him! Maybe you guys can become best friends, and then you can tell him about me!" She giggles at that point._

"...." He glances at her briefly, something flickering behind his eyes, but disappearing almost as soon as it came. He rolls his eyes.

"But he's really cold," she goes on, pouting. "And he's not very friendly..."

His voice was cold, very uncharacteristic of him. "So why do you like him so much?"

"Why do I like him so much?" She sounds incredulous. "Because -- Because everybody likes him!"

He turns to look at her, again, something flickering across his features before disappearing and being replaced by boredom, "So you like him because every other girl in Konoha does?"

Her cheeks turn red, "Well, if you really have to know --"

His eyes stare straight into hers. "What?"

"I really like --"

His eyes, unblinking, filled with pure honesty and vulnerability. "Who?"

" -- Sh --"

She suddenly realizes what she is about to say and she hastily amends herself:

" -- Sasuke-kun, of course!" Her face is happy and smiling, but inside, she feels horrible, horrible for lying.

Ino felt her heart being ripped out upon the expression on the boy's face. He looked vaguely familiar. The half-lidded eyes, accompanied with the messy black hair..

"Shikamaru," she murmured. "That's him, when he was younger. And... that's me. That's me."

The boy shrugged carelessly in front of the girl, but once she was out of sight, he sunk down to the ground and stared up into the whiteness of the clouds, as if trying to disappear within them.

"And...I just broke his heart...?"

Her head was spinning. She wanted more time, more quiet, to try and figure this whole mess out, but everything was happening far too quickly for her liking.

Over there -- beyond the trees, in the neck of the woods, there was something else happening, with a younger her and a small girl with pink hair. Sakura?

_"I heard that you like Sasuke-kun too," the pink-haired girl murmurs, clutching at the fabric of her dress._

The blonde girl's heart constricts. "So?"

"From now on..." Sakura's eyes are dull. "...we're rivals."

The cherry blossom walked away, leaving the young blonde at the bench, crying afterwards. After a moment, someone sits down on the bench next to her, handing her a clean handkerchief.

"Eh?" Ino looks up, and there he is, once again. He never fails to appear whenever she is feeling bad. After a tense minute of silence, she takes the handkerchief from him and dabs at her eyes. "Um. I'm sorry."

"Pffh." He exhales sharply. "What are you saying sorry for? You didn't do anything!"

"Well, yeah.." She shakes her head, how can she say that it just felt like the right thing to say? She smiles instead, wiping her eyes dry. "Thank you, then." She hands him the handkerchief, oblivious to the red tinges on his cheeks.

"You're so troublesome," he replies, stuffing the handkerchief into his pocket. "But...you're welcome."

What were all of these things?

Memories?

Of when she was younger?

More importantly..

What was this feeling?!

And then, directly above her, was another scene, again involving her and Sakura. She strained her ears to listen...

_"This. I'm giving this back to you." Sakura holds out a ribbon, but Ino refuses to take it._

"What..? I gave that to you."

"I know. I'm giving it back." She takes a deep breath. "From now on...I'm not just a girl that follows you around."

Ino's heart tightens again. "What about your forehead protector?" she asks, harshly. "They're supposed to go around your forehead."

Sakura smiles, just a little. "The time that I put it on my forehead...is when I don't lose to you, as a female shinobi."

Ino smiles back, even if it was a small smile, and she takes the ribbon from her former best friend. When the pink-haired girl disappears, she falls to the ground, crying.

"Bah. Why is it that whenever I find you, you're always crying? You're so troublesome."

She smiles to herself, and rubs at her eyes. "I'm not crying. You're seeing things."

"Oh? Then why is your face wet?"

She refuses to admit the truth, continuing to wipe at her eyes all the way. "Maybe it's raining."

"Geez. You're so stubborn. That makes you especially troublesome."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah. That's right." He holds out a handkerchief, with peach blossoms embroidered on the corners. "Here."

She takes it from him without complaint, and wipes at her eyes. When her eyes are dry, she focuses on the handkerchief, a smile already tugging at her lips. She loves peach blossoms.

"Not many guys have flowers on their handkerchiefs."

"Feh," he grumbles, scratching at the back of his neck. "You can keep it if you want," he adds.

"Can I?" She glances at him hopefully, hugging the handkerchief to her chest.

They meet each other's eyes, cheeks heating up.

"Take it already," he mutters, before sitting down next to her. Her mood brightened up, Ino tucks the handkerchief carefully away in her pocket.

When she gets home that night, she puts it in a drawer so that it will be safe from harm.

"Shikamaru..?" Her voice was soft, and she sounded lost. "Is that him?"

He was always there. Always had been.

But she was always too busy thinking about Sasuke-kun.

_"Gah! I can't believe I'm stuck with you guys on my team!" She has just found out the team assignments, and she is less than happy -- of all the people, she is stuck with a lazy boy and a fat one. She has just spent the whole entire day throwing whatever insult she can come up with at them, and they are less than happy about that._

"I know you're unhappy because you can't be with your precious Sasuke-kun," he says, irritatedly, "but we're not at fault here. We haven't done anything to you. We didn't ask for this team assignment."

More anger burns up within her -- mainly because she knows he is right. "Well -- well --" But suddenly she has nothing to say, and her anger ebbs away. " -- I deserve to be able to complain," she finishes weakly.

"You gonna cry?"

"No!" she sputters, "I don't cry!"

His reaction tells her he knows differently, and she looks away, embarrassed.

"I hate you."

"Yeah, well, I hate me too."

Her head jerks up in surprise, but he refuses to meet her eyes, and she never had a chance to ask him what he meant.

And then, beneath her -- with the deep green grass and the blue skies, there lay Shikamaru and Chouji, playing chess. She approached them, smile wide --

_She was going to tell him._

She was going to tell him how she truly felt.

She had been going through some wild mood swings lately, and she knows that Shikamaru has been less than happy with how she has been treating him. But it is all because of this -- this one, most important thing, that she has buried deep within her heart and struggles to forget, each and everyday. But she knows now that it is wrong to keep such a big thing hidden, that she should come out and let him know.

She is scared, and frustrated, but...

If she was going to get hurt...

Then she wants him to be the one to do it.

"Shikamaru! Chouji!" She waves towards them, and she fails to catch the annoyed look on his face. Chouji waves back, tentatively, but Shikamaru is busy fiddling with something in his hands. She is unable to see what he is doing, and continues walking on towards them.

She is going to tell him.

She is going to tell him how she truly feels.

The next thing she sees is a blur -- but she barely recognizes a kunai and a chess piece -- and then, she is flat on her back, a lump growing steadily on her head.

She is never able to tell him how she truly feels.

---

"Ino? Ino, darling, wake up."

She did so, eyes slowly growing focused.

"Daddy?" she asked, groggily.

"Yes, it's me. Are you all right? Were you having nightmares? You were thrashing around in your sleep."

Her head was pounding, and she reached up to rub at her temples.

Then something came to her -- like a quick flash of brilliant lightning, almost blinding. And there it was. There it was.

"Daddy..."

"What is it, sweetheart?"

She swallowed. "I remember!" she cried, sitting up abruptly in bed, throwing the covers off her. "I remember!"

"Remem -- oh." Inoshi wasn't quite sure what to say. "Well, that's great!"

But judging from the look on his daughter's face, she doesn't seem to feel the same way.

"I remember...everything." Her eyes grew wide. "Shikamaru! Did he really...?"

"Yeah."

He stared at his daughter. "You're going to tell him soon, right?"

She seemed to have gone into a trance, but she shook herself awake. "Sure. Of course."

---

It was pure coincidence that she met him while strolling through the marketplace. There he was, buying some rice balls, and there she was, on her way to the flower shop -- and, just like it had always happened before, their eyes met, and they were lost in their own world.

"Ino?"

She felt uncomfortable, and stifling hot. Why? She didn't understand.

"Hi," she said at last.

She had to tell him.

She needed to tell him.

"I have to tell you something," she said, words coming out extremely fast.

"Oh. Okay." He nibbled on his rice ball, waiting patiently for her to speak.

Why couldn't she say it?

"I -- my -- remembering --"

"What?" He furrowed his brow, bewildered.

She took a deep breath. She had to tell him. She needed to tell him. She had to, she had to!

"Ino. Do you have something you want to tell me?"

His eyes.

They stared right into hers, and it felt like he could see right through her, through all her many masks and layers and lies. She couldn't lie to him, she couldn't possibly lie to him.

"Ino? Come on."

Her throat felt dry --

This was her chance. She should tell him, that she had her memories back. She couldn't keep deceiving him.

Her mouth opened --

This was her chance.

And the words came out --

"No." She shook her head. "There's nothing."

-- tsuzuku: to be continued --

Listening to: "She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 5 -- this chapter was kind of hard to write... I mean, it'd been bugging me ever since the beginning, HOW AM I GOING TO GET INO'S MEMORY BACK?! And in the end I came up with that dream sequence, partly inspired by this one chapter from "The Uchiha Restoration"... and then there was some inspiration from Kare Kano, like that part where Ino realizes that if she has to get hurt, she wants Shikamaru to do it..

Anywaaaay, I hope you were satisfied with this chapter.


	10. Her Lies

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Disclaimer: I own not Naruto. Does that sound strange? XP "Own not.." a result from listening to one of my teachers too much, hahah..

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And They Say Chivalry is Dead

Chapter 10: Her Lies

_"No," _she said, _"There's nothing."_

Then he had blinked up at her, a little surprised, but didn't press the matter. He finished up the remnants of his rice ball, and, through a mouthful of rice, bade her goodbye. She was too frozen to say anything else.

Why?

Why had she lied to him?

She had planned it out in her mind -- she always did. She would meet him somewhere, and simply tell him, tell him that she had her memories back. And then, following after that, she would tell him, at long last, of her true feelings. That Sasuke meant nothing to her, that the one, the only one that really mattered..

Was him.

So why had she lied?

"I'm such an idiot..." She murmured, reaching up to brush her hand through her hair. "...I should have told him."

She pushed open the door of the flower shop.

"Hi, Ino..." Sakura's cheerful smile fell the moment she saw her. "What happened?"

She might have tried to lie, but she was too tired to.

"I lied to him."

"You lied to him?" Sakura didn't understand.

"Listen." Ino went over to the back of the counter, placed her hands on it, and then placed her head on top of her hands. "I got my memories back."

"Oh..well..that's good, isn't it?"

"Well, yes. But when I tried to tell him --" Ino waved her arms around in frustration. "I couldn't. I ended up lying to him."

Sakura frowned thoughtfully. "Were you scared?"

"Scared?" The word surprised her, and then she realized it was true. "Ohh. I was. I am."

"Why?" Sakura prodded further.

"Why?" The blonde girl raised her head up a little. "God, I don't know. I just am."

Sakura furrowed her brow. "Are you scared of him, that's he's going to hurt you?"

Ino raised her head up fully, so that she was standing at full height. "Did I ever tell you what I was going to do when I went to the park that day?"

Sakura shook her head. "No. Why?"

Ino smiled wistfully. "I was going to tell him."

"You were?" Sakura beamed. "Good for you."

"Thanks." Ino half-smiled. "But, well, obviously we know what happened after that."

Sakura waved her hand in dismissing. "That's all in the past now. You have today, you have tomorrow. Go tell him."

"Nooo," Ino shook her head. "I was going to. And I ended up lying."

"Because you were scared," added Sakura.

"Because I was scared," confirmed Ino.

"Because Yamanaka Ino only lies in crucial situations," stated Sakura.

"Because --" Ino pulled a face. "Oh, you're right. You're so right."

"I know." Sakura couldn't resist a joke. "But you can tell him. You can apologize for lying, and then tell him."

"But.."

"Haven't we been through this before?" Sakura was going to lecture her, and it was an odd situation because it was usually Ino who did the lecturing, "if you don't tell him, you'll never know. Do you want to risk having that over your head?"

"No," Ino admitted.

"So you should tell him."

"I should. I should."

"And you will tell him."

"I will. Eventually."

---

Ino cursed the being called Irony. Because it was being pretty damn stubborn, and pretty damn obsessed with her situation right now. When she had said she'd tell him eventually, she figured it was because she wouldn't see him until later on in the week. She hadn't counted on seeing him fifteen minutes after Sakura had left the shop.

"Shikamaru!" She couldn't help but sound surprised. She was unable to keep the surprise out of her voice. She swallowed. Now or never, right?

"Hey.." He raised a hand in greeting. "Uh, Sakura told me you had something to tell me."

"Oh. Did she?" Her grin was strained now.

"Yeah." He looked strangely uncomfortable, strangely out of place, surrounded by the flowers. "So...what did you want to say?"

_Say it._

Just say it.

"My memories --" she started, and then paused, hand gripping the counter unusually tightly.

"Your memories?" He quirked an eyebrow.

"Uh-huh. My memories." She was breathing heavily now. Her head hurt, her head really, really hurt. It was difficult to breathe, it was like swimming against a current and failing horribly.

"Did you..." A spark of hope, replaced by defeat came into his eyes, "...get them back?"

_Yes._

Yes.

Yes.

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Her hand instinctively reached up to rub at her temple..

And before she knew it, she had blacked out again.

---

_ Ino sits directly in front of the peach blossom tree, looking wistful and sad._

"What's wrong?"

She doesn't need to turn to know who it is. "The peach blossom tree. It's my favorite tree."

He nods, and takes a seat next to her. "I know."

"It's going to die soon." She hugs the trunk of the tree gently. "Mommy told me. It's sick."

He remains silent. "There are other peach blossom trees," he offers after a moment.

"I know. But I don't want them, I want this one." She steps back and stares longingly at the branches of the fragile flowers. "This tree is special."

"Special?" He wrinkles his brow. "How is a tree special?"

"Don't you remember?" She beams. "This is where we first met! You were somewhere over there --" She gestures to the other side of the tree, " -- watching the clouds. And I was here."

"Oh..." He takes in her smile, her beaming face.

She declares with a nod, "That's what makes it special."

---

"....Shikamaru, I hope you're not planning to make a habit out of this," was the wry statement that came from Inoshi.

Shikamaru grumbled something under his breath. It wasn't his fault, it wasn't like he'd asked her to faint on purpose. He shifted her weight on his back.

"Can I come in, then?"

"Oh, sure, sure." Inoshi moved out of the way to let the younger boy who was carrying his daughter in. A smile twitched at his lips as he watched him gently deposit Ino onto the couch. For a moment, Shikamaru scratched at the back of his neck -- a habit that meant he was nervous; Inoshi knew this because Shikato had the same tick -- and then turned to him.

"She just fainted," he automatically said.

"I don't doubt that." Inoshi was being genuinely friendly.

His eyes widened slightly, "Really?"

"I'm not the enemy here, Shikamaru." His voice came out a little gentler than he'd meant for it to be.

"Gee. Are you sure?"

Inoshi laughed, a loud rumbling that reminded Shikamaru of his own father's laugh. "I guess I deserve that. Sit down, will you?"

Shikamaru paused, and then relented, taking a seat on the armchair adjacent from the couch where Ino lay unconscious. With a grin, Inoshi sat on the other matching armchair, across from the armchair Shikamaru sat at. The distance between them was filled with a glass coffee table.

"Listen..." Inoshi drummed his fingers on the leather of his favorite chair, "Ino's my only daughter. You know that."

What was he getting at?

"Yes, sir."

"So, it's only natural that I'm a little overprotective of her. You know?"

He didn't. "I...I guess."

Inoshi sensed his uneasiness. "It's okay if you don't," he told the younger boy, "you will, one day."

Shikamaru highly doubted that, but he didn't say so.

"Ino's very important to me," Inoshi went on, drumming on the leather even harder than before, "so I want her to be happy. No matter what."

Shikamaru's throat became stuck. He wanted her to be happy, too.

Even...

Even if it wasn't with him.

"Do you care for my daughter, Shikamaru?"

Did he?

Did he care?

Barely three seconds' of silence. "Yes, sir."

"As a teammate?"

No hesitation. "Yes."

"As a friend?"

A gulp. "Yes."

"As something more?"

There was silence this time, and it closed in on him. It was like the raindrops, falling steadily from the dark clouds hovering in the gray sky, _drip, drip, drip_, and the more he tried to drown out the sounds by covering his ears, the louder they got, **_drip, drip, drip_**.

Shikamaru hated lying. He hated people who lied. Lied for fun, lied to get out of trouble, lied just for the heck of it. Lying always had some sort of consequence, many repercussions that were frankly too troublesome to deal with. Liars were people who had low standards, people who made fun of others, people who deceived others. He had never lied before, never, not when it truly counted.

He wasn't about to start now.

He stared into Inoshi's eyes, unwavering.

"Yes."

---

She woke up just as the front door was opening. It creaked, and she bolted up and sprang from the couch, panicked. She caught a glimpse of his dark hair, partly covered by her father's height.

"Shikamaru!"

He turned, more than a little surprised. "...Ino."

Inoshi smiled. "I'll leave you kids alone."

Ino bit her lip shyly, awkwardly. "I'm sorry. Again."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

"But I caused you trouble again."

"And I told you, don't worry about it."

"Don't tell me not to worry about it!" she fumed, and then caught herself. "Ah."

He wasn't surprised. "It's fine, really." He glanced out the window. Almost getting dark.

"But, still.." She wasn't going to let him go that easily. She instinctively reached into her pockets, a grin spreading across her lips as she found what she was looking for. She stretched out her hands towards him.

A peach blossom.

Slightly wilted, but Shikamaru found himself taking it.

"Take it," she said. "You like them, don't you?"

"Yes..." He gently deposited it into his pocket. "Thank you."

She grinned. "You're welcome."

He didn't know what else to say, so, "I'll be going now."

"Ah...okay."

She watched his retreating form.

"Oh! Wait!" He turned at her call, and she fidgeted under his gaze. "I was going to tell you something..."

He waited patiently. "Yeah?"

"I'll...I'll tell you...soon. Okay?" She bit her lip.

He shrugged. "All right." And he turned and left.

"You didn't tell him?"

She jerked in surprise, and glared halfheartedly at her father.

"Did you?"

She shook her head disappointedly.

Inoshi shrugged, and walked towards the kitchen. "You ought to do it soon, Ino. I don't want to see a nice boy like him get hurt."

---

His father grinned at him, eyes glued on the peach blossom that was sticking out of his pocket.

"Ino give you that?"

Shikamaru strode directly to the kitchen, taking his glass and filling it with water.

"Oh, come on, son, don't be that way."

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, "What if she did?"

Shikato pretended to act nonchalant, "Then we'd better start planning for the wedding."

Shikamaru crossed his eyes, obviously irritated, "It's just a flower."

"True." A mirthful grin crossed his dad's face. "You gonna keep it?"

Shikamaru groaned. "Yeah."

His father's grin widened even further.

-- tsuzuku: to be continued --

****

SnoOza - Yes, "She Will Be Loved" just SCREAMS ShikaIno, doesn't it? hums the song I'll be looking forward to that songfic of yours! **The Prime Minister** - Yes, they're stupid teenagers, aren't they? XD I'm well-known for putting all sorts of twists and turns, just to delay the story. Heehee. **plumwarrior37 - **O.o Did Ino really come out that selfish? I didn't mean for her to come out so selfish! XX **b-chan1** - Kare Kano's gooood. And you understood why it was so hard to write!!!! on the verge of a nervous breakdown Gaah. I need Starbucks. But my parents insist that caffeine isn't GOOD for me or whatever... mmmph..

Most of you were satisfied [and angry with the twists and turns, but... coughs] with last chapter. Heehee.. urm, I'm guessing there'll be around 14 to 15 chapters... so it's almost done... breathes a sigh of relief


	11. His Feelings

Disclaimer: I own not Naruto. .

b-chan1 - "I'm allowed to drink Starbucks coffee guilt-free..." Gah, you should've seen my face. My eyes just bulged out, and my mouth just dropped open. struggles not to think of anything related to coffee Whee, is my writing style changing? Does that mean I'm improving? o.O Heh, this author will take a compliment whenever she can. XD

And They Say Chivalry is Dead

Chapter 11: His Feelings

Shikamaru was not in the greatest of moods. After spending some time training with Asuma, Chouji, and Ino, he wanted nothing more than a warm bowl of ramen. Ino seemed to be getting back to her normal self, but she hadn't said anything about getting her memories back. So he figured one of these days Inoshi would take Ino to see Tsunade, and then she'd get her memories back, and everything would be back to the way it used to be.

Back to the way...

...it used to be.

Back to when Ino harbored her giant -- and that was an understatement -- crush on Uchiha Sasuke. Back to when Ino only ran to him, Shikamaru, when there was nobody else. He was only second place.

He didn't understand why he felt this way. He had always been second place, ever since Ino had met Sasuke. She would ramble on and on about how great Sasuke was and why he was so great. And he would listen. Because that's all he was in her eyes. Someone to listen. Someone to talk to, when there was no one else.

He had always been second place.

Somewhere in him, he had convinced himself, that second place really wasn't all that bad. It was better than third place, and even then he would be in the top three.

But the past week had taught him something.

He didn't want to be just in the top three.

He wanted to be number one.

He wanted to be the one she ran to when she was upset or crying. He wanted to be the one she thought of first when there was something wrong. He wanted to be the one she smiled at constantly. Even her bone-breaking hugs he was willing to take. He wanted to be with her.

No one else would do.

But who did Ino run to when she was upset or crying?

Sasuke.

He never cared for her. He usually made things worse, making some sort of snide remark, and causing the tears to flow even more. Then she would run to Sakura, even though they were rivals, and Sakura would usually make things better. And what was he?

Nothing but someone in the background.

How had he come to feel this way? Was it the little smiles she gave him whenever she realized he was there? Was it because whenever she noticed him, it felt like nothing else mattered?

He'd had a chance. When her memories were gone, he could have told her -- he could have told her that he was her boyfriend, that he was the one she loved. And eventually, she might have come to feel that way, to feel love. But it wouldn't be right, and one day she would realize what he had done, and she would hate him.

He didn't want her to hate him.

He didn't think he could bear that.

So he remained, content, in the background, as Ino's last resort, the one she came to only when there was nobody else, the one who was content to watch and do nothing more.

---

"I couldn't tell her something like that," snorted Shikamaru as he played another game of chess with Chouji. "That's stupid."

"It's how you feel, isn't it?" insisted Chouji.

"I don't feel **anything**," mumbled the Chuunin.

Chouji simply smiled.

"Stop smiling." Shikamaru was suddenly aware of the large, toothy grin the other boy was wearing, and it downright scared him. "Stop it!"

"You ought to tell her," Chouji encouraged his friend, "you never know, she could feel the same way. Right?"

"Right. And then Naruto really will become the next Hokage." Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"You'd better not let him hear you say that," was all the other boy said as he made his move.

"Yeah, yeah." Shikamaru shrugged. "It's just..."

"You've known each other practically your whole lives," Chouji said.

"So?" Shikamaru protested. "She loves that Sasuke guy. Dunno why. He never notices her."

"And didn't I tell you she was just pretending to like him?"

"I don't believe that."

"Fine." Chouji pretended to look hurt. "But didn't Sakura tell you herself that Ino liked someone else?"

"I know better than to believe her," spat Shikamaru. "For all we know she was just trying to rile me up."

"And it worked, didn't it?"

"....."

"She doesn't hate you," Chouji told him. "She just doesn't know a good thing when it's in front of her."

"And how is that supposed to help me?"

"Trust me. I know these things. I bet she likes you."

"And what's Sasuke to her? Chopped liver?"

"Sure, why not."

One of the things he hated about Chouji, Shikamaru realized with a wry smile, was that he always had a way of getting under Shikamaru's skin. It was a talent only a few people had, and those few people were Chouji, and his father. He didn't understand it then, but he supposed that he needed someone who was able to do such things.

"You know," Shikamaru said suddenly, "she kept on saying that she wanted to tell me something."

"Oh?"

Shikamaru ignored the blatantly huge grin on Chouji's face. "Yeah. But she never got the nerve to tell me."

"Three guesses what she wants to say."

Shikamaru slipped his bored expression onto his face. "Chouji..."

"Hey hey, you never know, right?"

Shikamaru didn't know exactly what to think. Was it too much to hope?

"Hey, don't think too much about it," his pleasantly plump friend told him. "If you think too much, you'll ruin it all."

"Feh." Shikamaru had a craving for a cigarette. He had been hanging around Asuma too long, was all he figured.

But still... it couldn't hurt to hope.

---

Ino found herself at the ice cream parlor again, at the very same one where she had spent an afternoon with Sakura. She had ordered a pint of chocolate ice cream, and she stuck her spoon in the middle of it. She was planning on downing the whole, heaping carton...

When her thoughts fluttered to a certain lazy boy.

More importantly, the things she was supposed to be telling a certain lazy boy but for some unexplainable reasons, just couldn't do so.

Why couldn't she tell him? She'd certainly never had any problems telling him things before.

Except for the obvious.

Sighing, the blonde girl dug into her chocolate ice cream, savoring in the cold treat. She closed her eyes. If her life were perfect, she would have been able to tell him, no problem -- Shikamaru, I have my memory back. Oh, and by the way, I kind of like you. Sasuke? Forget Sasuke. I hate him. I like you.

Ugh.

There was no way she would ever say something like that.

Shikamaru would probably think she was insane.

And truthfully, she was beginning to think that she was.

Why was it so hard? Her mind, her mind was begging her to tell him, her heart, her heart was begging her to tell him, but her mouth, her mouth would not listen!

Instinctively, she stuck her spoon again in the pint of ice-cream, came up with a heaping spoon of the cold treat, and stuffed the whole thing in her mouth.

"See, that's exactly why I call you Ino-pig."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Get over here before I hurt your big forehead."

Sakura grinned teasingly, a bowl of vanilla ice cream in her hands. Her eyes widened at the pint currently sitting in front of Ino, "Wow, are you gonna eat all that?"

"Yesss," replied Ino, "I'm going to drown myself in all of this ice cream."

Sakura looked amused. "What's wrong?"

"I couldn't tell him!" exploded Ino.

"Which one?" questioned Sakura. "The one that you like him, or the one about your memories."

"Both," came the frustrated answer. "But I wanted to tell him first about my memories."

"So why didn't you?"

"I froze up." Ino sighed. "And then I fainted."

"Fainted?"

"Yeah. It happened before."

"What happened when you fainted?"

Ino frowned. "I kept on getting flashbacks about me and Shikamaru, when we were younger."

Sakura stuck out her lower lip, a sign that she was thinking. "It's your subconscious," she declared, "telling you that you love him and that you should tell him."

Ino sighed exasperatedly. "Seriously, Sakura."

"But why haven't you told him, though?" Sakura's green eyes stared straight into her own. Ino squirmed uncomfortably. "Heck, from what I recall I remember you told Sasuke you loved him the moment you first laid eyes on him."

"But this is **different**," Ino said earnestly. "This is -- this is --"

"Real?" supplied Sakura.

"Well...yes. Real."

"And that, my friend," Sakura took this opportunity as Ino thought about this more and more, "is why you are so afraid."

"Huh?" Unknowingly the spoon of chocolate ice-cream made its way to Ino's mouth.

"Because this is **real**," Sakura informed her. "This isn't just that puppy-love, fake crush you had on Sasuke-kun. With Sasuke-kun, you knew it would never happen, so you weren't afraid, you went on declaring your love and glomping him and whatever. But this, this with Shikamaru -- it's not that fake, puppy-love thing. It's real. It could happen, it might happen. And you're scared. You're scared because it's never happened before. You don't know what to do, and that scares you."

Ino's mouth dropped open -- and then she clamped it shut. "...you're right."

Sakura shrugged.

"I have to tell him," Ino declared suddenly. "I have to. I have to."

"I've been telling you that from the start," Sakura said, lazily eating a scoop of her ice cream.

"No. I really have to." Ino looked at her best friend right in the eye, letting her know that she meant every word. "I have to tell him."

Sakura nodded slowly. "I know. So go do it."

"I will!" Ino stood up, pint of ice cream forgotten.

And then she plopped back down on the seat again.

"No," she murmured. "No.."

Sakura sighs, exasperated. "Wasn't that enough of a reason for you?"

"I know I have to," Ino told her, "but... I mean, how?"

"How?" Sakura repeated.

"How am I going to tell him? This isn't the kind of thing you just call him up on the phone for and just -- just tell him!"

Sakura's eyes were focused elsewhere. "Ino. Ino."

But the blonde ignored her, "How am I going to tell him -- How am I going to tell him that I've had my memory back for the past...what, three, four days? How am I going to tell him.... that...I've been lying to him?!"

Sakura didn't say anything. Her eyes were staring straight ahead, fixed at something right behind her.

Ino turned.

Her heart stopped.

There was no need to tell Shikamaru that she'd regained her memories, that she'd been lying to him all this time.

Judging from the look on his face, it looked like he already knew.

-- tsuzuku: to be continued --

Eheh. Yeah. [coughs, and hides behind a wall] Please don't hurt me. I promise you the next chapter will be out by tomorrow... ;;


	12. Their Problems

****

Disclaimer: I own not Naruto.

Hehee, I'd answer reviews, but I know you guys want to read. So I'll spare you the pain, and just let you go on into the happy land where Shikamaru and Ino are together...

****

And They Say Chivalry is Dead

Chapter 12: Their Problems

"Shikamaru --" Ino began, but cut herself off abruptly. What could she say?

"Was that true?" His voice was quiet, quiet and cold. Ino didn't like it at all. It reminded her too much of Sasuke.

"Was what true?" She made such a big mistake. She bit her lip.

"What you said." He was still speaking in that eerie, icy tone. "Have you had your memories back all this time?"

She couldn't lie to him, not anymore. "Yes."

He sucked in a big gulp of air, and went on, "For how long?"

And all the things she should have told him right from the beginning came pouring out: "For the past four days. I tried to tell you, Shikamaru, but I just couldn't --"

"So you've been lying to me," he said, in that odd voice, "for almost a week now."

She felt like crying. "I know. But Shikamaru --"

"You've been deceiving me," he went on, completely ignoring her protests, "for almost a week."

"Shikamaru! Listen to me!"

"Did you think it was funny?" He raised his eyes to meet hers. "Watching me risk my ass for you? Taking you to do all these things, making a complete idiot of myself? Were you amused, Ino?"

"Shikamaru, that's not why --"

"No." Why was he being so stubborn? He wouldn't even let her explain! "All this time, I've always been doing things for you, and I never got anything in return. And you know what? I never complained. I let you walk all over me, because at least that way, you noticed me, you actually saw me, instead of your precious Sasuke-kun. And after everything I've done, you always just walked away." Ino was surprised by the range of emotions he was exhibiting.

"But, Shikamaru..."

"So you know what?" His voice was barely louder than a whisper. "This time, I'm walking away from you."

And he did.

Ino collapsed on the table, headfirst. Strange. She wouldn't cry, even though she wanted to. Sakura squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

"I'll go after him," she whispered. "I'll go after him." She stood to leave, but Ino clutched at her wrist, and shook her head, ever so slightly.

"No," she said, hoarsely. "I have to do it."

"Are you sure?"

"It was my fault," the blonde girl said, smiling sadly. "I can't ask you to do something like that. I should do it myself. I'll tell him, later, once he cools off."

She looked up towards the window, but he was nowhere in sight.

"I can only hope that he'll forgive me."

"Of course he will," Sakura told her instantly. "He has to forgive you."

But Ino shook her head.

"Shikamaru thinks a lot of things are troublesome, right?" Ino rested her chin on top of her hands. When Sakura nodded, she went on, "but one of the things he hates the most, is lying. He told me so himself. He hates liars. He hates it when people deceive other people, just for the heck of it. He hates it when people can't own up to themselves and just tell the truth. He told me that when someone lies, then there's all of these consequences...troublesome consequences. And he hates that. He hates liars. They are the most troublesome people of all, that's what he said to me." She smiled sadly. "And I just lied to him."

Sakura hated this. She hated watching her friend like this. And she vowed to herself, that eventually, if things didn't get better, she would talk to Shikamaru, but she wouldn't interfere, not too much.

"Ino.." She cleared her throat. "If it's meant to be, it will happen."

Ino nodded gently. "I just hope it is."

---

Shikamaru clenched his fists.

Did he... Did he say too much?

His head drifted upwards to the clouds, and he found himself wishing the same wish, that he was a cloud. He shook his head. He had definitely said too much.

But her eyes..

They had expressed so much.

She was sorry, she truly was sorry for having deceived him. He knew that, he had seen that.

But he couldn't help but remain angry.

Why couldn't he just forgive her? It would be simple. Easier. Just tell her, it's okay, and then everything would go back to normal now. Ino would go back to chasing Sasuke, and he would blend into the background, like he always had.

He had lived through it before.

He could live through it again, no problem.

Right?

Anyway, he reasoned, whatever he felt for Ino...it was probably just one of those little crushes. He'd simply let it run its course, and then one day, he would feel nothing for Ino, except perhaps feelings of friendship. Then he wouldn't hurt anymore.

But... how long had he been feeling this way already?

He shook his head again.

_You've been feeling this way for as long as you can remember_.

So?

_Feh. I thought you were supposed to be smart._

.....

Shikamaru tuned out the other voice inside of him. He had learned, from experience, that it usually caused too much trouble. He sighed.

God.

This was so troublesome.

---

Ino bit her lip, something she had been doing more and more these passing days. She'd passed by Shikamaru's house for the third time, but she still hadn't worked up the nerve to go knock on the door.

_Yamanaka Ino is afraid of nothing!_

She raised her hand to knock on his door.

And almost immediately, dropped it.

She instead settled for sitting herself down on the front porch, threading her hands through her blonde locks. Sakura had been right. She was afraid. She was afraid to even talk to him, now. How had everything gone so horribly wrong?

This was real.

It wasn't just some stupid little crush on the guy every girl was after.

This was real.

This was what she wanted.

Ino always went after what she wanted, no matter what it was. Once, a long time ago, she wanted to be with Sasuke, she wanted to be the center of attention, she wanted to be the girl that was found on the arm of the untouchable Uchiha Sasuke. She wanted to be the best kunoichi ever, and she had graduated from the Academy as just that. But this -- she wanted this, this feeling, never to end. Yet she didn't know how to go about it.

"Shikamaru.." She buried her head in her hands and moaned. Almost immediately after, something wet hit her on the head.

She looked up, dazedly.

It was...

Rain.

"It's raining," she murmured. The rain grew steadily harder, and she, of course, got wet. She thought about going home, but absolutely rejected that thought.

"No. I'm not going home until I talk to him."

And she stood up, proceeded to knock on the door.....

And slumped back down to the ground.

Why was it so hard?!

She sat there, like that, chin in her hands, completely oblivious of the rain that was quickly soaking her to the bone. Her eyes traced the raindrops, as they fell from the clouds and landed on the concrete. She closed her eyes.

Why couldn't she tell him?

Because this was real.

Sometimes, she felt like she was trapped in a bubble. A damn tough bubble, because no matter how hard she tried to break through, the bubble was too strong for her, and she couldn't get out. But outside the bubble was this wonderful world, like a paradise. This bubble was preventing her from getting to that paradise. And she wanted to get to that paradise. But how was she to break down this bubble?

She realized something now...

Once she was able to break down that bubble..

Then she could be with Shikamaru.

The only problem was, could she do it?

---

_She has just declared, to everyone, that the person she really likes is Uchiha Sasuke, and nobody is too surprised. After all, every girl in the village **has** to chase after him. It would be wrong to do so otherwise!_

"Sasuke-kun is really cute," she giggles to herself. But for some reason, somebody else, a boy with half-lidded eyes, an eternally bored expression, and long dark hair tied up in a spiky ponytail slips into her mind.

"But Sasuke-kun never notices me." She doesn't bother trying to stop talking to herself. She always does so, when there's something on her mind she really needs to think about. "And...he's actually kinda cold. And boring. All he does is throw kunai and train to be a strong ninja."

Again, she thinks of **him**.

"But Shikamaru's always been there," she realizes suddenly. "Even if he's kinda weird. Always watching his clouds. He makes me feel better. Somehow."

She stops to pluck a peach blossom from a nearby tree.

"Like, when I got into that fight with Sakura. He was there."

She sits down, under the shade of that tree.

"Everytime I cried... he was there."

She wrinkles her nose at this realization. "But he's Shikamaru," she says to herself. "How could I ever like someone like him?"

---

She wasn't so oblivious to the rain, not anymore. She was completely drenched, and she couldn't suppress the shiver that ran down her spine. But she couldn't work up the nerve to tell him, not yet, so she didn't leave... She continued to sit on his front steps, shivering from the cold.

"Ah-- Ah -- choo!"

She clapped a hand to her mouth. Someone was moving inside Shikamaru's house. Was it his father? His mother? Or worse, Shikamaru himself?

The door swung open, and Ino found herself frozen in place.

"Shikamaru..." she whispered.

-- tsuzuku: to be continued --


	13. Their Talk

****

Disclaimer: I own not Naruto.

Well, you guys will be glad to know that this chapter does not end at a cliffy. At least, I don't think it does...

This chapter is dedicated to **Freeze** whose inspiring email just made my day! Thank you so much!

****

And They Say Chivalry is Dead

Chapter 13: Their Talk

"Shikamaru," Ino said hoarsely. She was all too aware of his piercing stare, her sopping wet clothes and soaking hair. She looked down.

"You're soaking wet," he said dryly. "Come in."

"In?" Would he invite her in, after everything she had done?

"Yeah. In." He gestured inside, pointing to the warm fire burning in the fireplace and to the cup of hot chocolate he held in his hand. When she still didn't do anything, he grabbed her by the arm and literally pulled her in. Ino was too surprised to argue.

"Who is it -- oh, Ino." Shikato grinned pleasantly at the blonde girl. "Look at what you found, Shikamaru."

"Very funny." Shikamaru pointed to the couch. "You can sit down over there."

"But she's soaking wet!" exclaimed Shikato. "We can't have you in that condition. Inoshi would kill me. Go on, boy, let her wear some of your clothes."

"But --" Of course, no one paid attention to Ino, and she found herself being led upstairs to Shikamaru's room. He gave her a shirt and some pants, and then pushed her into the bathroom, telling her to change. Shikamaru leaned heavily against the door as Ino changed.

Well, the blonde girl thought, I suppose this is a good a time as any.

"Um, Shikamaru?"

He shifted uncomfortably against the door. "Yeah?"

"About... About what happened... I'm sorry."

He figured she would say as much. "Yeah, well, so am I."

"You are?" she sounded surprised.

"Well, yeah. I said a bunch of things I shouldn't have."

"So..." Hope was undeniably in her voice. "You're not mad at me?"

He paused. "....I didn't say that."

"I said I was sorry!" came Ino's irritable reply. And then, in an obviously strained voice, "Eh, I guess I deserve that."

"......"

"So why did you let me come in?" she asked him then.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I may be mad at you, but I don't want you catching a cold out there. It's raining pretty hard. What were you doing out there? Couldn't you see the rain?"

"Of course I saw the rain!" came her irritated snap. "You ought to consider yourself pretty lucky that I thought you were worth waiting for under all that rain!"

"...oh." What did that mean?

Ino sighed. Couldn't she be nice to him, just this once? She tried again: "Still...I'm really sorry."

"I know."

"Do you forgive me?" There was a slight edge to her voice.

He sighed. "Of course."

"So then you're not mad at me, right?"

"I didn't say that."

"Shikamaru!" She suddenly threw the door open without warning, causing the boy to fall flat on the bathroom floor. She ignored this for the moment. "How can you forgive me, but still be mad at me?!"

He glanced at her, annoyed, rubbing at the muscles in his back. "I can do whatever I want. You deceived me, remember?"

Her eyes softened. "But I said I was sorry."

"I know." He sat up. "Why don't we just forget about this? Let's go sit by the fire. It feels good," he offered.

"Hang on..." She fidgeted nervously, avoiding his eyes. "You know...that day when you knocked me out with your kunai?"

"It's not something you can forget very easily," Shikamaru said dryly.

Ino restrained herself from slapping the boy on the floor. "Well, I was supposed to tell you something."

"You were?" Shikamaru couldn't hide his surprise.

"Yeah." Oh, of all the times for her to freeze up! Ino bit her lip, staring at the walls, at the sink, even at the toilet; anywhere, as long as it wasn't him.

"Oh." Shikamaru glanced up at her briefly. He had no idea what she was about to say. "Then..."

"Well, you have to wait!" fumed Ino.

Shikamaru blinked.

"Because -- for some reason -- for crying out loud!" Ino stamped her foot. "Okay. Okay. I'm going to tell you, right here, right now."

"O**kay**." Shikamaru scratched at the back of his neck. "Then just tell me."

Ino opened her mouth, about to say something, when Shikamaru caught a glimpse of her eyes. He had seen them before, a clear blue shade, that could suddenly darken and turn a misty gray. They always held determination and boldness, never fear. But not now -- now, they held nervousness, uncertainty, and yes, fear.

And something else.

He didn't know what that something else was, but what he did know was that it was very same emotion that came through his eyes whenever he saw Ino.

Footsteps clattered towards the bathroom. Simultaneously, the couple turned to see Shikato raising his eyebrows at the two of them.

"Am I --" An _ahem_, "interrupting something?"

There was silence.

Ino broke it.

"No," she said softly. "You're not."

---

"I was so close," murmured Ino, burying her face in her hands. She was back at her house, on the phone with Sakura.

"I know," came the reply from the other end. "I'm sorry."

"It was horrible timing," Ino went on, collapsing on the soft fluffy pillows on her bed. "And plus, of all places, we were in the bathroom!"

"You can do it," Sakura encouraged her. "I know you can."

"And worst of all, I think he already knows!" Ino groaned. "He was looking at me all funny, and then his father comes along and interrupts us. But worst of all, I don't think I can tell him."

"Well, why is that?"

"I don't know, but I have to be able to tell him!" Ino practically exploded. "I've never let anything stop me from doing anything I want to, and this is no exception!"

"Then, for crying out loud, tell him," Sakura stated bluntly. "Look. You've been complaining about the exact same thing for days, but you haven't done anything about it."

"Yes, I have!" cried Ino indignantly.

"You've tried," Sakura amended herself, "and you've failed. So you ought to try again."

"Again? Ugh."

"Well, talking to me isn't going to do you any good."

"I know!" Ino slapped herself on the forehead. "But that way I can vent. And I need to vent."

Sakura let out an amused snort. "That you do. I can tell."

"Hey..." Ino's voice took an oddly misty tone. "Did I ever tell you how Shikamaru was always there for me... when... you left?"

Sakura didn't say anything out of guilt. "No. Why?"

"He was always there. Always. I was crying a lot, you know... after you said we were rivals, after you gave me back my ribbon... I was always crying, and he was always there."

Sakura didn't say anything for some time. "That's good, isn't it?"

"Yeah," was the immediate answer. "He's... He's just so..."

"Cute? Loyal?"

Ino frowned. "I can't really explain."

"Ino..." Sakura paused, a little bit for the drama, and a little bit to find the words. "Are you in love with him?"

The blonde girl froze, hand clutching the phone suddenly all too tightly. She seemed to sink farther down into the pillows, down, down, down...

"Ino? Ino? Can you hear me?"

Sakura's voice jolted her out of her thoughts, and she was back on her bed again, phone on her ear.

"I can hear you," she replied. Her voice sounded strange.

"That's good." Sakura was a little uncertain -- had she perhaps gone too far? She sighed. Things like this were definitely too delicate to be rushed.

"Sakura?"

Sakura tapped at her chin. "Yeah?"

Ino stopped for a moment, and then barreled on, "What about Sasuke-kun?"

"....." came from the other end. Then, "What about Sasuke-kun?"

"I mean... you and Sasuke-kun." Ino bit on her tongue. Maybe, if she got some input from Sakura, her situation would suddenly make sense. "Are you in love with him?"

Sakura laughed. "What do you think?"

"The way you're always going on about it, forehead girl, it's like he hung the stars and the moon."

Sakura sobered. "Look, Ino-pig," using the suffix because Ino had called unwanted attention to her forehead, "I like him, I'm a little obsessed with him. But it's not love. That's not love."

"Then, what **is** love?" Ino let out a long, heavy sigh. "I don't know what I'm feeling. What if it's just some crush? I don't want to get hurt."

"First off, no one really knows what love is." Sakura scratched at her head. "And second of all... well, only you'll be able to tell if it's a crush or not."

"What if he doesn't feel the same way?" It was only now that this thought occured to her. "Oh, God, Sakura, what if he doesn't feel the same way?"

"You didn't worry about that with Sasuke-kun."

"Because I didn't love Sasuke --" Ino froze in horror.

As did Sakura. Well, only for a bit -- she'd had an inkling about the blonde's true feelings.

"Ino," the pink-haired girl said slowly, "what did you just say?"

"I don't know," Ino lied quickly.

"Don't lie," Sakura warned.

Something twisted in Ino's heart at those words -- the sight of Shikamaru's shocked, hurt face.

"But..." The realization was too much for her. "But I'm only twelve!"

"It doesn't matter if you're three, ten, fifty, or ninety," Sakura told her, slightly exasperated. "If you're in love, you're in love."

"But..."

What was she going to say?

What **could** she say?

Was that it -- was that what she had been feeling all along?

"...what do I do now?"

"You tell him. Just like you've been planning to do all along."

Ino felt numb, like she had just jumped into a freezing cold lake at the break of dawn. But she knew what she had to do; she couldn't keep this in forever. It was already trying to burst out, like a bird stuck in a cage --

"Right," she muttered. "I'll tell him."

---

_They are eleven years old again, and she is sitting in the shade of the peach blossoms, like she always does. On a pure whim, she looks up at the clouds._

"The clouds," she murmurs. Shikamaru liked the clouds, didn't he?

"...you're here?"

She turns around and smiles. "Why? Something wrong with that?"

"Well, I wanted to watch the clouds on my own." He crosses his arms over his chest, looking slightly annoyed.

"Well -- too bad!" she huffs. "Because I'm not leaving!"

He says quietly in reply, "I didn't ask you to."

"....." He never fails to render her speechless, and she is unsure of what this means, because she is never speechless. Instead, she decides to change the subject.

"Hey, Shikamaru?"

"What?"

"We're friends, right?"

"..." He frowns. "I suppose."

An annoyed look flutters across her face. "What do you mean, you suppose?! Yes, or no?"

His frown deepens. "But we never even see each other."

"But we're still friends!" insists Ino. "We run into each other a lot. Our dads are friends. And we're in the same class."

"We never talk to each other."

"We're talking right now, aren't we?" Why was he being so stubborn?!

"Still.." He looks unconvinced.

"Well, if you're not convinced..." Ino let the last part hang threateningly. "...then, let's just become friends!"

He quirks an eyebrow. "Become friends?"

"Well, sure!" Ino smiles. "I mean, you're kinda weird, but I could get to like you. We could become good friends. Don't you think?"

He shrugs.

"Don't you want to be friends?" She wasn't leaving him alone.

"Sure." He catches a glimpse of the murderous glare on her face. "I mean, yes."

"All right, then." Ino leans against the trunk of the peach blossom tree and tilts her head up to get a better view of the white, fluffy clouds. "We'll be friends."

Friends, the dark-haired boy thought darkly, but never anything more.

-- tsuzuku: to be continued --

This story is coming to a close. I realized it midway through the chapter -- I have nothing to write about anymore. Ino has her memory back. Shikamaru knows. Ino's realized her feelings. Shikamaru always had his feelings. All that's left to do is to get them together! rubs hands together evilly

I battled a lot with the beginning of this chapter. Rewrote it like, four, five times? I didn't know what to do. I mean, it's uncharacteristic of Shikamaru to be pissed off for a really long time. And come on, he can't stay mad at Ino! So... eh, that's what came out.

I'm listening to Linkin Park. Specifically, "Somewhere I Belong." Ohh, it's gonna get stuck in my head... groans


	14. Their Happy Ending

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Disclaimer: I own not Naruto.

__

At long last, folks, here it is -- the final chapter.

****

And They Say Chivalry is Dead

Chapter 14: Their Happy Ending

Shikamaru was being plagued by nightmares. Horrible, horrible nightmares that would be forever scarred into his mind. He hated nightmares; although he rarely had them, and if he did have them, his logical mind would dismiss them easily and think no further of them. But these -- these nightmares were truly, truly frightening.

They included Ino, and worst of all, Sasuke.

There was nothing too explicit, of course, but there was enough to definitely scar him for life.

He didn't know exactly when it had started, but he figured it had been about three weeks ago, when he had found Ino sitting on his porch on that wet, rainy afternoon. He remembered how she had lied, how she had been unable to tell him she'd regained her memories, and he had been angry and hurt. It was probably around that time that the nightmares began.

First, it was simply Ino rambling on and on about her dear Sasuke-kun. She would be together with a throng of other Sasuke fangirls, gushing over how cute his hair was or how cool his deep, dark eyes looked, something to that effect, and Sasuke would ignore them all pointedly. That part hadn't been too bad.

Until Ino confessed her feelings for Sasuke.

At this point, it should be mentioned that Shikamaru was almost... invisible. Like he was simply a passer-by, standing in the background, blending in with the scenery, watching as every moment unfolded in front of his very eyes, unable to do a single thing. With a pang, he realized that that was how he had experienced most of his childhood.

And so he was unable to do nothing but watch as Ino, blushing profusely, approached Sasuke with her characteristic boldness and determination. Her hands were clenched tightly into fists, and she stared at her feet for the longest time until she finally reached the stoic boy.

_"Sasuke-kun,"_ she would say, as she always did, _"I have to tell you something."_

Shikamaru realized that this was the exact same scene he had witnessed oh... about five or six years ago, perhaps? He already knew how it would end. It was always the same, every time.

And Sasuke turned, eyes still cold._ "What is it?"_ he would ask.

Ino's cheeks darkened, but as she always did, faced the situation boldly and refused to run away. _"You see, Sasuke-kun, I have a crush on you! I know all the other girls have crushes on you too, but I'm different. ...what do you say?"_

Shikamaru noted mildly to himself that Ino's confession lacked a little something. Sincerity?

He waited for the blow to come... Some kind of snide remark, a glare, a snort, and definitely a smirk from the Uchiha prodigy. But when nothing came, he lifted his head to look at what was happening --

And promptly keeled over.

The reason no one was saying anything was because Sasuke -- **the** Uchiha Sasuke, cold, brooding, mysterious boy whom Shikamaru was sure had more than his fair share of issues -- had taken Ino into his arms, his **arms**, and was hugging the life out of her.

And when the words came out of the boy's lips, _"I like you too,"_ Shikamaru checked the skies for signs of any flying animals.

But the worst came when the two began to move steadily towards each other, eyes closed, lips mere inches away from the other... Shikamaru told himself to look away, but his neck would not obey and his eyes would not shut themselves and he was forced to watch the horrendous sight...

And then he woke up.

When he awoke sharply, he glanced out at the window -- pitch-black, with a thin, wispy moon hanging over their village. He glanced at the clock and was able to make out a blurry 2:15. Crap.

He wasn't able to fall asleep until around six in the morning.

That night, he was again visited by those awful, awful, awful nightmares. This time, it was worse. It was almost like a follow-up dream to the previous one, with Ino and Sasuke finally becoming an official couple and always going out on dates every week. There was no one in the village who didn't know -- Sasuke **was** extremely popular, after all -- and there was no girl in the village who didn't envy Ino.

And he was, again, nothing but part of the background.

_"Oh, Sasuke-kun!"_ Ino would squeeze her boyfriend's hand tightly, _"This is amazing!"_

Somewhere deep inside the pineapple-haired boy acknowledged the fact -- the restaurant was one of those classy, fancy, sophisticated kinds, the type of restaurants that girls like Ino lived for, and the type of restaurants that guys like him could never afford. Not for the first time, he thought, he would never be good enough for her.

_"I knew you would like it."_

Shikamaru had never liked Sasuke, but he positively despised and hated him now. He had an urge to... to... strangle him, and feed him to the vultures.

_"Look at the selection they have!"_ Ino would gasp, letting her eyes roam hungrily at the menu. _"And crab, they have crab, I love crab!" _Then her face would fall, _"but is it okay? Crab is awfully expensive..."_

"Of course it's okay."

Shikamaru imagined sneaking up on Sasuke, slipping a noose around his neck without being noticed, and tying said noose onto an extremely high tree.

'Of course it's okay,' he mumbled to himself in his dream, mocking Sasuke. 'Okay? Okay. Crab. You want crab? I'll get a crab.' And then the boy imagined capturing the biggest crab in the universe and using it to hurt Sasuke. Badly.

'Ohh, damn.' In his dream, Shikamaru slapped himself on the head. 'It's nothing but a dream. A troublesome dream.'

Then, the dream promptly became more troublesome as dinner was finished and Sasuke walked Ino back to her house. Shikamaru let his mind wander for awhile and thought of what Inoshi thought of Sasuke. Ehh.

Ino and Sasuke were now on her porch steps, and looking at each other with wet and starry eyes. Shikamaru resisted the urge to gag. Something, however, nagged at the back of his mind -- what exactly did people do on dates, on their front steps?

He received his answer once Ino and Sasuke began to move closer to each other.

'Damn.'

Closer...... ever steadily, closer, and closer, and --

Shikamaru's eyes burst open, and he jolted out of bed.

"Well..." he mumbled to himself, "it's nothing but a dream. I probably won't have anymore. God, how troublesome."

Of course, as irony would have it, he of course had another dream the next night.

And this next dream would prove to be the worst.

Shikamaru was now outside of some fancy building, and there was a limo and other cars parked out front. Flowers he recognized from the Yamanakas' flower shop decorated the outside, and there were sounds of laughter and cheer coming from the inside. Curiousity piqued, he went in.

There were people dressed up in fancy clothes... guys in tuxedos, girls in pretty, flowing dresses. There was a large table filled with all sorts of food, and in the middle of those, standing tall, was a white cake that Shikamaru recognized as a wedding cake.

'A wedding, huh?' he thought. 'Who tied the knot?'

That was one question he did **not** want the answer to, but that didn't stop him from finding out.

There was Uchiha Sasuke, looking handsome -- well, not to Shikamaru's eyes, but anyway -- in a dark tux. And next to him, in a white, flowing wedding dress, was Ino.

His heart came to a stop.

Ino and Sasuke..

Married?

So the blonde girl of his childhood was now Uchiha Ino. Shikamaru disliked the name immediately. It didn't suit her, it sounded awful together. Nara Ino, now that was a name...

Then the scene disappeared, and he reappeared in front of a grand hotel suite, with a huge, king-sized bed, and thick, velvet curtains with soft, plush carpet.

'Not bad,' he thought -- and then the door to the room opened, and in walked Sasuke, carrying Ino in his arms, just as the groom does to the bride...

Shikamaru frowned, deeply.

And his frown deepened even more when the two began kissing, passionately -- Shikamaru scowled; he had always woken up before this point.

His frown deepened beyond reality when the two began to tear at each others' clothes.

His eyes widened.

"GAAHHHHH!"

Shikamaru had never been so glad to be back in his bedroom before. But one thing was definitely clear...

He needed help.

Desperately.

---

Chouji was the one he went to, and whether that was a mistake or not, Shikamaru didn't care. The thing was, he needed help, and Chouji was really the closest person he had to a psychiatrist. Plus, he knew that Chouji would never tell anyone, and that was the main thing he needed at this point. Privacy.

For a moment, Chouji was almost sort of stunned. He tugged at his scarf and let his eyes drift away to some other place, and then about five minutes later, burst out laughing.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry," his friend said, gasping for air. "But you should have seen the look on your face when you said that. It was hilarious. Priceless. One of those Kodak moments."

"You're supposed to be helping." Shikamaru sighed and watched as Chouji dug hungrily into his ramen. They were at Ichiraku, where everyone was talking loudly and so there was no chance of him being heard.

"What am I, a shrink?" But Chouji was only joking, of course -- Shikamaru was paying for the ramen, after all.

"You're the closest thing I have to one," Shikamaru immediately replied.

"Oh." Chouji sobered up. "Well, how do you feel about Ino and Sasuke?"

"Together?"

"Yeah. Like in your dreams."

"I hate it," Shikamaru admitted. "They just don't go together. It's like... pickles with butter."

"How does that taste like?" mused Chouji -- but instantly went back to the subject upon seeing the look on Shikamaru's face. "Oh. Okay. Then, how do you feel about **you** and Ino?"

"Me and Ino?" Shikamaru frowned. He'd never thought about it much before.

"Yeah. ShikaIno!" Chouji grinned broadly.

Shikamaru shot him a Look. "I mean... I dunno."

"Would you like to be with her?"

Shikamaru grew uncomfortable, and his hand drifted to his neck and began scratching at it. "Well...yeah."

"Forever? And ever?"

Shikamaru furrowed his brow. "...yeah."

"Do you care about her?"

Shikamaru had a fleeting flashback of being at Ino's house, being interrogated by Inoshi. "Yes," he answered, with no hesitation.

"As what?"

"As what?" repeated Shikamaru in bewilderment.

"As what," repeated Chouji, patiently. "As a teammate? An acquaintance? A friend? Or... something more?"

Shikamaru couldn't help but wonder if Chouji had been visiting with Inoshi lately. But -- this was his best friend, and he had never lied to his best friend, and he would never dream of doing so.

"As a teammate," Shikamaru answered, slowly. "And as a friend. And," he paused, biting his lip, "as something more."

"Uh-huh." Chouji slurped at his soup. "And -- if those nightmares of yours come true, how would you feel?"

Shikamaru thought about it. "Miserable," he answered, depressingly. "Just plain miserable."

"Because you want her to be with you."

Shikamaru sighed. "Yeah. That."

"Because you love her."

"Yeah." The dark-haired boy blinked, "Wait, **what**?!"

Chouji smirked.

---

As irony would have it, Shikamaru ran into Ino an hour later -- with his mind in a complete mess. What with this sudden realization that he was in love with his blonde teammate among his horrific nightmares which had forever been embedded into his mind -- well, we couldn't really blame him.

He froze.

She froze.

But Ino was still Ino, after all, and so she broke the silence. "Hi!" She greeted, trying and failing to sound like her regular old chipper self.

And Shikamaru was still Shikamaru, so he managed a bored and lazy reply. "Hi."

Ino was suddenly serious, and she bit her lip and wasn't able to quite look at him in the eye. She stared at her feet. "You know, I had something to tell you."

"Oh. Right." Scenes of the little bathroom incident flitted across his mind -- the most memorable one being her clear blue eyes, shining with some unreadable emotion.

There it was -- hope.

In his heart.

"I was going to tell you..." She fell short, and tried again, "I was going to say..."

Shikamaru suddenly noticed that she was shaking.

"Ino?" He tentatively took her hand. "You're shaking."

"Ugh!" She stamped her foot angrily. "Why can't I do this?!"

"What is it?" His tone was oddly gentle. Ino was genuinely frustrated about this, which had to mean that it meant a lot to her.

"I wanted to tell you something." Somehow she'd managed to lean into him, resting her head on the crook of his shoulder. Her voice was muffled against his shirt, and she took in the fact that he was now so many inches taller than her.

He loved the feeling of her against him -- and he relished the moment. "Then tell me," he said.

"I can't." There was disgust in her voice. "I don't know why. God knows I've tried so many times."

"Is it something about Sasuke?" His voice was strained.

She shook her head. "No. I don't care for him anymore."

Again, hope rose in him, and he thought once more of the emotion he'd previously seen in her cerulean eyes.

He decided to risk it, and he asked, "Is it something about me?"

She stiffened.

He held his breath.

"It is," she replied, voice still subdued.

He let out the breath he'd been holding. "Is it something about you and me?"

She stiffened again, and for a moment Shikamaru was afraid she would run. "Yes," she whispered.

There was only silence, and Shikamaru took a deep breath.

"I think I know what you're trying to say."

"You do?" She raised her head and their eyes met. Shikamaru saw, for the first time, the same emotion he felt reflected in her eyes.

He barely managed to nod.

"So.." his voice sounded so different, "you don't have to say anything."

"No!" Her eyes took on a familiar determined blaze. "I will tell you. I have to be able to tell you. And when I tell you, you'll tell me back, won't you?"

At first, Shikamaru was too shocked to say anything. Then he realized, this was Ino, this was her resolute, flaming spirit, the very essence of the girl he'd somehow fallen in love with.

"I'll tell you back, when you're ready," he said. "I'm a pretty patient person."

She smiled.

---

"Something good happened to you, didn't it?" Shikato's lip curled amusedly.

"......" was the reply, but somewhere Shikamaru knew that he would never be able to fool his father.

"Look.." Shikato clapped a hand gently on his son's shoulder. "I know we're not that close, and I blame myself for that, kinda. But what do you say to a father-son moment?"

"......." again.

"I know!" Shikato snapped his fingers triumphantly. "I'll tell you how your mom and I started dating."

This finally prompted a response from the silent Chuunin, "Are you drunk?"

Shikato laughed, then sobered up slightly. "Actually, yeah." He held up a half-empty sake jug. "But c'mere anyway. Sit." He patted the empty seat next to him, and Shikamaru grudgingly sat down. A nostalgic smile appeared on the older man's lips, and he pointed out the window, over to the bridge.

"That," he said, words just a little slurred, "is where I first met your mom."

"The bridge?" That was apparently Team 7's meeting spot, where Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had spent many happy hours waiting for their silver-haired teacher.

"Yes," Shikato replied. "I was just walking along, and then I saw this pretty girl standing over the bridge. So naturally, I stopped to talk to her."

"You tried to hit on her."

"Well --"

"And then she started yelling at you."

Shikato scowled slightly. "Who's telling the story here?"

Shikamaru shrugged and let his father continue with his story.

"So we didn't get off to a very good start. But then, a couple of days later, I was walking by the bridge, and there she was again. And me being me, I stopped to talk to her again." He laughed. "See this scar?" he gestured to his eye. "Made by your dear mother."

Shikamaru's eyes widened slightly.

"And you know, it's natural for men to chase women they know they'll never have. It's been that way since the dawn of time. So I kept chasing after her, and I guess I got to her, because she gave me a chance. She gave me one chance for dinner, but there was one condition, I had to cook it myself." He smiled grimly. "It was painful work, boy, but in the end my efforts were rewarded."

Dinner?

Shikamaru thought of the dream he'd had -- with Sasuke taking Ino out to that fancy restaurant. That was something he would never be able to afford, but he was a decent cook, he could probably make a good meal..

He slid off the stool. "Thanks," he mumbled gruffly before he grabbed the cordless and escaped to his room. Shikato shook his head.

His fingers instinctively dialed Ino's number, not stopping to wonder exactly how he'd managed to memorize her phone number, and he waited for someone to pick up on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Ino?"

"Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru bit his lip. "Do you want over tomorrow night?"

Silence. "For... dinner?" she asked.

"Yeah.." He trailed off, feeling uncomfortable. "I can't afford to take you out to some fancy restaurant, so I thought maybe I could cook you something.." He neglected to mention his father's story. "...but if you'd rather not --"

"No," she cut in, "I'd like that. Really."

"Oh." He didn't know what to say next; he'd never expected to get this far. His mouth opened out of its own accord and the words just fell out, "what's your favorite food?"

"Crab," was the instant reply.

"Crab." His heart sunk. Crab was awfully expensive. "Okay. I'll cook you some crab tomorrow night. Okay?"

"Okay. And..." She trailed off, "I think maybe I can tell you tomorrow night."

Shikamaru couldn't help it; he smiled. "Right."

---

The next day, Shikamaru went to the grocery stores and strode to the seafood section. Live crab.

His eyes widened at the price.

He couldn't afford it. Not even the tiniest little crab. He cursed as he exited, and he racked his brain for some kind of solution, any solution.

He paused as he looked out at the wide body of water under the bridge.

There had to be... **some** crab out there, right? Shikamaru scratched his head. He'd never bothered to learn about aquatic creatures and where they dwelled.

He sighed.

He really had no other option.

Throwing off his jacket and sandals, Shikamaru dove into the lake.

---

_Dammit_, he cursed as he spotted another crab. The lake itself was quite shallow, but he was not much of a swimmer, so that did little to help him. There had been a number of crabs he'd managed to get his hands on -- but, he winced at the pinch marks on his hands, that hadn't worked particularly well, either.

Crabs were tricky, he realized. Their shells protected them, and he couldn't go and kill the crab, because apparently dead crabs weren't good for eating. Or something, it had to be alive up until the point you were about to cook it? Gah. How troublesome.

Ah! There was another one! He swam silently towards it, and had managed to wrap his hands around its shell when...

"Damn!" He rushed up to the surface for air, surveying his newest scar. He hissed. At this point, a wind blew, causing him to shiver. The seasons were changing, and the air was growing colder -- but he had to have himself a crab, by hook or crook.

"Shikamaru?" He winced at the voice; he did not want to be seen right now. "It **is** you, isn't it?!"

He turned around wearily. "Ino.."

Her mouth dropped open at the sight of him, in dripping wet clothes, hands and arms covered with scars. The chill air did little to help his condition, and she ran to him. "What is wrong with you?! It's freezing out here! Why are you in the lake?!" She caught sight of the scars on his arms and hands, "and what are these?!"

That was Ino, Shikamaru thought with a sigh, barreling one question after another whenever she was feeling nervous. "I was trying to get you some crab for dinner," he replied lazily.

"You --" Ino didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "You mean you were doing this for me?"

"Well, I wasn't doing it for **me**," Shikamaru replied sarcastically, rubbing at his sore arms. "God, that hurt."

"You're such a moron!" Ino cried, punching his arm, although there was no strength behind it. "I swear, for someone with an IQ of 200, you're really stupid!"

Shikamaru scowled. "Oi. I did this for you. You wanted crab, didn't you?"

"Then why didn't you just buy some?"

"Crab is expensive, you know."

"It didn't have to be crab!" Ino was practically yelling. "You could have just taken me out to Ichiraku, I would have been just as happy!"

"Then why didn't you just say that?! You were going on about crab, crab, crab... and if you went out with Sasuke, I bet he would have been able to afford to take you to some fancy restaurant with crab, and just because I'm not like him and I don't have --"

Ino silenced him by placing a finger on his lips. Shikamaru was surprised by what she did and by what he had said. He let a long-suffering sigh escape his lips, and she glared at him.

"I don't care about Sasuke. Got it? I don't care if he's richer than you, smarter than you, stronger than you, cuter than you, whatever. I care about you. I don't care if he can afford to get me the finest crab in the world --" She was growing extremely emotional at this point, "and if you can only afford to buy me cheap ramen! Okay?!" There were tears in her eyes, "God! I can't believe I fell in love with such an idiot like you!"

Again, Shikamaru was rendered speechless -- but that was a talent Ino and Ino alone possessed. He always had some sort of smartass remark in his head for whatever conversation, but with Ino, she had the power to make him stop and lose all train of thought. He smiled, tentatively, deciding that he liked this part of her.

"You're crying," he said wonderingly. "How could I have fallen in love with someone so emotionally unstable as you?"

Ino managed to glare at him through her tears, "Well, you'll have to deal with it!"

"I know I will."

"Because you'll have to deal with me for a long, long time to come, you got it?!"

"I'm looking forward to it." And he was.

Standing knee-deep in murky water under the bridge, he took her into his arms and held her tightly, as if he were never going to let her go.

And you know what?

He never did.

end

Erk, I'm so sorry that it took me practically forever to get this final chapter out! It's just, I completely blocked out at the end. I must have rewritten it six or seven times.... and then in the end I decided to take a little break from it and work on a couple of one-shots... and then I came back to this and got this ending. XD All in all, I think it's pretty cute.

Just want to say, thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed. Love you guys!


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